PITTSBURG — Iola has produced some great basketball minds including current Pittsburg- St. Mary’s Colgan High School head coach Clint Heffern.
The Iola native just wrapped up his first season as head coach of the Panthers and impressed, particularly in the postseason. Heffern led his team to a Class 2A substate title championship title after going 11-12 overall on the season.
Heffern began his coaching career as an assistant at St. Mary’s in 2017 before taking the head coaching role at Fort Scott High School in 2020. He was then hired as St. Mary’s Colgan’s head coach this past year, replacing long-time coach Wayne Cichon.
Like many great teams, the Panthers played their best basketball late in the season under direction of their brand new head coach. They took down some tough Jayhawk-Linn and Erie squads before defeating Central Heights in the final minutes of the substate title game.
St. Mary’s is a private school which incorporates lots of its religion into the day, something Heffern enjoys.
“It’s been good for me because Colgan is a Catholic school and I grew up Catholic,” said Heffern. “My grandparents and parents were big influences on my faith so it’s been really cool to teach and coach in a school which incorporates my faith in everything we do.”
“I like that we’re teaching bigger life lessons than just wins and losses at Colgan,” he added.
St. Mary’s Colgan fell to Wichita Independence in the Class 2A state tournament.
He credits parents Chuck and Linda Heffern and others around Iola for instilling his work ethic at a young age. Linda Heffern teaches at Iola Middle School.
“I’ve got to credit my parents who instilled that work ethic in me and giving my best even if that means you’re the one that’s playing a lot or playing a little,” Heffern said. “Taking that to life and not just sports, you’ve got a job, got a family, someone is counting on you to work hard.”
Prior to coaching high school basketball, Heffern attended Pittsburg State University after playing both basketball and baseball at Allen Community College from 2012 to 2014. The former multi-sport athlete played under current Red Devils head coach Andy Shaw.
Current Iola High boy’s basketball head coach Luke Bycroft was also Heffern’s freshman basketball coach at Iola. He played baseball, basketball and football while at Iola and graduated in 2012.
“When I was a player I was a role player and I wasn’t the most fantastic athlete,” Heffern said. “Being a part of a team, I never wanted to let my teammates down. I’ve felt that as a coach too, there’s a lot going on and I try to control everything I can control.”
Heffern hopes he can continue that same mentality standing on the sidelines.
“I think I’ve curated that same role from being a player to being a coach,” said Heffern. “Doing everything I can and working as hard as I can to make sure we’re giving the team the best chance possible each and every night.”
