Santa Ana

Hegarty is in her sixth year as the Athletics Director of the Santa Ana College Kinesiology & Athletics Department. Under her direction, the Dons have won conference championships in football, softball, and men’s soccer as well as a baseball state championship in 2023. 

In addition to her role as the AD at Santa Ana College, Hegarty serves as the 3C2A Management Council representative for Men’s and Women’s Wrestling and is the Orange Empire Conference (OEC) representative to the statewide Gender Equity Committee. In the OEC, she is the AD Representative for Women’s Basketball and chairs the Scholar Team Committee.

Prior to SAC, Hegarty spent five years at Long Beach City College where she served as the Athletic Coordinator. In that role she assisted with various administrative duties while also managing the Student Athlete Success Center.

Hegarty has a strong coaching background in women’s basketball with over 25 years of experience at the NCAA Division I, II, and III levels. After serving as an Assistant Coach at UCLA, she landed her first head coaching job at Chapman University where she stayed for 10 years, turning a depleted Chapman program around by posting nine consecutive winning seasons with an overall record of 160-92 during her tenure.

After Chapman, Hegarty took the reins of the Long Beach State program where she led the 49ers to their first Big West Conference Championship in 14 years, earning her the Big West Coach of the Year award.

After six years at Long Beach State, Hegarty joined the California Community College system and spent time teaching and coaching at Santa Barbara City and Fullerton College.

Prior to transitioning into the coaching ranks, Hegarty was a star on the hardwood for the UCLA women’s basketball team. During her freshman season, she set the program record for assists in a single season with 240. She went on to collect 528 total assists in her playing career (ranks 5th all-time) and was named one of the 15 greatest UCLA women’s basketball players of all-time.

In 2021, Hegarty was featured in “After the Game”, a unique documentary that spans nearly 20 years to unveil the long-term empowering impact of sports on women which can be found here: https://www.afterthegamethemovie.com/

Hegarty holds a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology from UCLA and a Master's in Physical Education from Humboldt State.