How do you replace a living legend?
There was no doubt at Northwestern State when Leon Johnson informed director of athletics Greg Burke about his retirement plans last summer.
Promoting the No. 2 man in the program was the convenient hire, sure.
It was a no-brainer. For everyone concerned, Mike Heimerman was absolutely the right person to take over the helm of Northwestern State’s track and field programs.
Track and field alumni united in their support. Johnson gave his endorsement. Colleagues around the Southland Conference and in the track and field world simply assumed nothing else was remotely possible.
In six years as the Lady Demons’ head coach, he guided the NSU women to their finest hours – the best finish in Southland Conference history, and an NCAA Champion in 2011 discus winner Trecey Rew. In 16 years on the coaching staff, Heimerman earned a well-deserved reputation as one of the nation’s more accomplished and respected throws coaches.
But Burke, whose exacting process has often produced gold-medal results in naming new coaches, didn’t take the easy road and simply promote Heimerman.
“As a student-athlete, graduate assistant, assistant coach, and head women’s coach, Mike has 18 years of experience with our department and specifically with the track and field program. I had a high degree of confidence in him based on what I’ve seen during a period that parallels my tenure as athletics director,” said Burke. “Still, when Coach Johnson stepped down, we went through a search process, the first head coaching search for the track and field program in 31 years.
“After vetting several candidates and then sitting down with Mike, I know he is best-equipped to take over. He has a good handle on the many good things going on within the program, and at the same time, is determined to continue to elevate the program’s status on all fronts – competitive, citizenship, academic.”
So after looking at the rest of the possibilities, Burke knew his first instinct was correct.
Heimerman personally coached 11 of NSU’s last 16 All-American athletes. The Lady Demon program set new highs for academic achievement, highlighted by Rew, an Academic All-American and the USA Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association 2011 Field Events Women’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
Some of the other highly-accomplished competitors Heimerman has helped develop at NSU include four-time All-American javelin thrower Cody Fillinich, 1999 USA Juniors javelin champion Latrell Frederick, a three-time All-American, and two other USA Juniors javelin champs, Dawn Comeaux and Randy Fauntleroy.
“Mike was a tremendous athlete and has carried his competitive spirit into coaching. He’s been at my side for the past 16 years and has done a super job as an assistant coach, and a head coach,” said Johnson. “Mike took over the women’s program and it’s never been in better shape. He deserves this and he will be very, very good at it.”
Heimerman capped his competitive career with an eighth-place finish at the 1998 USA Championships in the shot put. He won the shot at the 1996 Southland Conference Outdoors.
Seeing his athletes rise to the occasion in conference, regional and national meets has been a hallmark of his coaching career. It happened again in 2013 when senior Janae Allen reached her potential during the season and a month after graduating, finished 10th in the discus at the NCAA Outdoors to earn All-America accolades.
The 2012 season saw yet another Heimerman-coached thrower rise near the top of the collegiate ranks as javelin thrower Ashley Aldredge lofted an NCAA 14th-best, and NSU second-best, mark of 166-0 and captured the Southland Conference Championship.
The 2011 season was spectacular for the Lady Demon track and field program, with Trecey Rew’s NCAA discus championship and the team’s best-ever finish, a runner-up showing, at the Southland Conference Outdoor Championships.
It was no surprise that Heimerman was voted women’s Coach of the Year on the All-Louisiana Team in 2011, sharing the honor with LSU’s Dennis Shaver.
Even before taking the helm of the program, he was a key factor in helping the Demons and Lady Demons make the most consistently high finishes at Southland Conference championships of any Louisiana team.
Since Heimerman wrapped up his own outstanding competitive career and joined the coaching staff, NSU has consistently produced nationally competitive throwers.
He’s coached 20 athletes who have reached the NCAA Outdoor Championships. In the last seven years, 11 javelin throwers (three in 2007, two in 2011) surpassed the NCAA qualifying standard.
When Cody Fillinich won his fourth All-America award at the 2009 NCAA meet it was also the ninth time in 11 years that Northwestern had either a male or a female javelin thrower reach the NCAA Outdoors. All of the athletes have been Louisiana prep products and four previously — Regina Roe, Latrell Frederick, Samantha Ford and Fillinich— won All-America honors by virtue of their performances at the national meet. Ford reached the 12-woman USA Olympic Trials Finals in 2008 and 2012.
The 2011 season provided the most unlikely member of the NSU javelin All-America contingent. Jessica Talley walked on in November, having never thrown over 130 feet in high school. She added almost 30 feet to her throw under Heimerman’s guidance, recording a mark of 158-6, and finishing 11th at the NCAA Championships to earn All-America honors.
Heimerman helped Rew develop into a legendary competitor in school and Southland Conference history. She first achieved national prominence in 2007 as a freshman when she qualified for the USA Junior Nationals in two events and made the USATFCCA (coaches’ association) All-Academic Team. She capped her career in 2011 with All-America honors in the shot and discus, eight Southland titles, being named Academic All-America, USATFCCA National Field Events Scholar-Athlete of the Year and claiming the NCAA discus crown.
It is not just technical knowledge that makes Heimerman a great coach, but also his competitive zeal and his ability to instill the same fire in his athletes.
A junior college All-American at Hutchinson (Kan.) CC, Heimerman is a proud Wichita, Kan. native. His wife, NSU alumna Farrah Reyna, is a former TV news anchor and first runner-up in the Miss Louisiana pageant.
