Heidi Cartisser had the ability to inspire people in her time as volleyball coach at the College of Southern Idaho.

Even those from that “rival” northern school in Coeur d’Alene, which had battled CSI in all sports for decades before moving to a different conference a few years ago.

CARTISSER, 44, died on Tuesday at her home in Twin Falls. According to her obituary from Farnsworth Mortuary in Jerome, she passed away in her sleep. Funeral services are scheduled for Wednesday at the gymnasium on the campus of CSI in Twin Falls.

Cartisser, who played for CSI from 1991-93, just finished her 22nd season as a collegiate head coach and her 12th at CSI. She led the Golden Eagles to NJCAA titles in 2009, 2012 and 2015, and to a runner-up finish this season.

Cartisser’s record at CSI was 359-89, and her teams made six NJCAA tournaments and won seven Region 18 championships. She was named the Region 18 Coach of the Year four times and also earned three American Volleyball Coaches Association West Region Coach of the Year awards, including this year’s award. She is survived by her husband, Jim — also her assistant coach at CSI — and five children.

Jared Phay coached the North Idaho College men’s basketball team from 2004 to 2014 before moving onto CSI later that year.

“The first time I remember her was watching her teams play against NIC,” Phay said. “But I always remember Bret Taylor and Kelsey Stanley talking about what a great person she was. Heidi was also on the hiring committee that hired me (at CSI), so I got to know her a little better through the interviews. I remember when I got this job, Kelsey telling me how much I will enjoy working with Heidi and her husband, Jim. She was right.”

Since Phay arrived on campus, CSI won a volleyball national title in 2015 as was runner-up last month.

“When I first got on campus, I knew that she had a lot of success as a coach,” Phay said. “And my years here, I’ve been able to watch the reasons why she is a successful coach. She really has an ability to inspire people.”

Without even knowing it at the time, she also inspired Phay — coaching at a home basketball game — to call a timeout at exactly the right time.

“Toward the end of the game, I heard we are about to win a national championship (in volleyball),” Phay said. “So I called a timeout so they could play the last point live on our video board. It was pretty cool, but she made it a point to thank me at our sophomore awards banquet for doing that.”

“Heidi, she was just a very successful coach,” said NIC coach Kelsey Stanley, who was an NIC assistant coach for two years, and the head coach the past four seasons. “She was always a friendly face. She was always so supportive of me after I was hired as the head coach and asked how things were going and how the family was doing.”

It wasn’t a typical postgame that final trip in 2015 to Twin Falls for NIC in Scenic West Athletic Conference play either. It was NIC’s last year in the SWAC, as the Cardinals moved to the Northwest Athletic Conference the following year.

“After the match, we always used to shake hands,” Stanley said. “But after the match, she gave me a hug and said ‘we’re really going to miss you guys.’ She was just a kind, respectful coach that everyone is going to miss. My heart breaks for her family and it’s kind of a surreal feeling.”

LIKE SOME others at NIC, Stanley — who has been on the volleyball staff at NIC since 2012 — heard the news of Cartisser’s passing via a text message from Phay.

“When I saw it, I had to read it back a few different times,” Stanley said. “It just didn’t seem real. She was just the sweetest person.”

Even if she was the rival coach.

“Yeah, we were rivals, but she was rooting for us to make it to nationals,” said Stanley, who became head coach in 2014. “Our last year in the NJCAA, after winning our first two matches (at the Region 18 tournament), she kept looking at our bench and putting up one finger, as in it would be one more match to get to nationals. It was always cool to get back there together. She just supported us whenever they weren’t playing NIC. She was a good coach and person.”

Someone Stanley added, she’ll miss along the recruiting trail this year.

“It’s like a bad dream,” Stanley said. “Come club season, I’m not going to see her recruiting. It’s very said and I’ll be thinking of her and family for a long time. Probably for a long time.”

Al Williams has been the athletic director at NIC since 2003.

“She was truly a remarkable coach and even better person,” Williams said. “Despite our intense rivalry in volleyball, Heidi had tremendous respect for all of our coaches. The year both of our teams qualified for the NJCAA tournament, Heidi made sure that her team was there to support us at each game, and we did the same. I’ll never forget the sound of both teams chanting ‘I-da-ho, I-da-ho,’ in support of each other at the Casper (Wyo.) Sports Arena. CSI won the national championship, and Heidi invited our team to join them in the championship celebration. I’m sure that is the only sport we ever had that kind of camaraderie with CSI, and it was all because of the respect we had for Heidi and her staff. She was always a class act, and she will be missed professionally and personally. Heidi was truly a great ambassador for the sport at the college level.”

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d’Alene Press. He can be reached by telephone at (208) 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at jelliott@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter @JECdAPress.