Head Coach: Josh Heffernan, 4th year, Career dual record 16-20
Coach
Heffernan, 33, began his wrestling career in the 80's when he was in
elementary school in the Elyria YMCA youth program. His family moved
to the Chicago area in 1987, and, later, he was a 4-year athlete in
football, wrestling, and baseball at Palatine High School. There,
under the tutelage of coach Jerry O'Brien, he qualified for the state
tournament twice and finished his senior season (1994) as the state
Runner-Up in the 160 lbs. division compiling a record of 42-3 and 30
pins that year. In the summer of 1994, he qualified for the Team
Illinois freestyle squad and competed in Fargo at the Junior National
Tournament. He went on to wrestle for Harry Houska and Joel Greenlee
at Ohio University. As a Bobcat, Coach Heffernan, a captian, placed in
the MAC Tournament three times and
qualified for the NCAA Championships in 1999 at Penn State University.
He also played baseball at Ohio for two seasons as a catcher. He
graduated with a degree in English Education in 1999 and moved back to
Chicago to began his teaching and coaching career at his high school
alma matter, Palatine High School. He stayed for the next five years,
and, in that time, earned his masters degree in creative writing from
Columbia College of Chicago. Then, in 2005, he moved to the Columbus
area with his family; he taught at Whitehall-Yearling High School and
coached with head coach David Grant at Westerville North High School
for one year before being hired as the head coach at Delaware Hayes
High School in 2006. He currently lives in Delaware with his daughters
Madison (5) and Brenna (2) and, besides coaching, he continues to teach
sophomore English, coordinates the Academic Center, and is the yearbook
advisor at Hayes High School.
