Staff Blog

End of the Hefty Era

It came as a surprise to some, but not a shock to others when the news came Monday afternoon that Paul Hefty was stepping down from the head coaching position at Luther. The former Norse player, conference MVP, offensive coordinator and now former coach, has been involed in Luther football for 17 years. Luther football has been a big part of his life. Now, as Hefto told me yesterday, he needs to decide what he wants to do when he grows up.

I'll be the first to admit I have a tough time staying objective about coach Hefty, knowing him since I was seven years old. When he went to Luther, he worked for my family's construction company (work likely being a relative term). When he began subsitute teaching in the Decorah district he would not know anyone in the class, but would always call me Svenson, guilt by association. That did a lot for a shy, insecure kid like myself. He'd always have time for me when he was an assistant at Luther and the media-coach relationship in his six years was everything I could ask for.

As for what he did at Luther, 29-31 total record. The 29 wins in a six year period was the best strecth of Luther football since the 1970s. Four of the six years were five hundred or above. Three straight winning season from 2003-2005, the first time that has happend since 1982-1984. 15 school records on offense. It was an entertaining, exciting brand of football and they were hardly ever any boring games. That was a big difference than the years before coach Hefty. Pretty good on-the-field accomplishments.

While the stated on the field accomplishments, I think coach Hefty's lasting impression on the program is in the bigger picture. People around the program refer to it as a family. That has grown under coach Hefty at Luther. It became an all-welcoming program that the campus community and the Decorah community became awfully fond of. And that sense of community that Hefto established led to some of the bigger crowds in Norse history. Luther was seventh in the nation and led the conference in attendence in 2006. When you were a part of Norse football, you were a part of a tight knit group. People working together towards a common goal.

The atmosphere around Norse football is an exciting one. Everyone gameday is an event and not just a game. There's more tailgating, more people, more support. All of these things were not present before the last six years. Entertaining football, a fun atmosphere, an all-welcoming program. It's been fun the last six years. That will be coach Hefty's lasting impact on the program. Whatever you do in life, enjoy it. Don't know exactly what's in coach Hefty's future, but you'll know he'll enjoy it. And I personally wish him the best.

One more point. 27 seniors stuck with football for four years following the conclusion of this season. Another, historically more successful program in the conference, had ten percent of the class they brought in four years ago stick with football. If that doesn't say what has gone on is right, I don't know what does.

Now, to the future. I just spoke of what has happend over the last six years. It's good. Things are rolling well. They can always get better. Whoever the next coach will be, it's my hope that the atmosphere will continue. I'm naieve enough to think you can win in football at Luther. Granted, playing in the Iowa conference is never going to be easy, but it's possibly. It's happend in a lot of sports at Luther. It can happen as well in football. Why hasn't it happend yet? It's my believe that the other programs in the conference have increased their play to stay a knotch ahead of the surging programs in the league. So, long story longer, it's more of what the other conference schools are doing, and not what Luther's not doing.

Athletic director Joe Thompson now has the job of hiring another football coach. Thompson has gone through the process many times in his 12 years as athletic director. And give him credit, he's hired some fine coaches. Paul Hefty in football, Brian Gillogly in baseball, Renee Hartl in softball, Steve and Yarrow Pasche in cross country, Brian Huinker in tennis, Jane Gibbs in volleyball and Mark Franzen in men's basketball. That's a darn good track record if you ask me. So all in all, as sad as I am to see Paul go, I'm confident the powers that be at Luther will make the right call in getting in a guy that will take the program to the next level.

Published Tuesday, November 13, 2007 at 6:15 AM by Darin Svenson

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