Coach Hannigan has been at the helm of the girls volleyball at Heritage since its inception when the school opened in 2005-06.  During her tenure, the Patriots have won over 300 matches, including 10 Bay Valley Athletic League championships and a trip to the North Coast Section Division I title match in 2013, a run that also produced the program's first-ever trip to the CIF NorCal playoffs.  Under her leadership, the Heritage varsity program has reached the section playoffs in 16 straight seasons.

Her coaching career began at her alma mater, Clayton Valley, triggering a career that has now extended beyond 30 years on the court, following an athletic career which resulted in her induction into the Clayton Valley Athletic Hall of Fame.  She also started the volleyball program at West-Tracy, and is active as a club coach with the Diablo Valley Volleyball Club.  Her coaching success has only blossomed at Heritage, where she has been named the 2011-12 CIF Victory with Honor Coach and the 2013 BVAL Fall Coach of the Year, an award which followed a season where her team produced a program-record 30 victories.  More recently, she was named the 2021 North Coast Section Honor Coach for girls volleyball and the NFHS California Coach of the Year during the 2021-22 school year.

Coach Hannigan has remained dedicated throughout the years due to her mentality that coaching is an opportunity to work with young players and help them develop not only their skills, but also a true love for the sport.  Numerous players from her program have gone to play and be successful at the college level, as a result of this mentality.  A player in the Heritage girls volleyball program should expect to be pushed to take risks, trust the coaches and their teammates, and develop relationships that feel more like family.  A successful season at Heritage is determined by much more than wins and losses, but by the feeling of achievement of a common goal.  In the end, it is about being able to maintain relationships with the players and the team, and characterized by the feeling that no one wants the season to end.

Coach Hannigan describes the feeling of true joy in seeing players develop both on and off the court, and feels blessed to have the opportunity to impact many more young people in one season that most people are able to in a lifetime.  She not only gives this commitment to her players, but expects it as one of the core values in the Heritage girls volleyball program, where players are expected to embrace competitiveness and commitment in their daily performance and also exhibit responsibility and integrity as two important moral core values.

"As a coach, my purpose is to focus on building the character of the student-athletes and making them stronger team members, thus building a quality program that players want to be a part of.  I realize that I not only train players in volleyball, but through the sport, they will learn life lessons, build relationships and walk away with positive memories.  I want players to develop a sense of service to others/team before self and a joy for volleyball." ~ Coach Hannigan