Heffernan's mix of experience a great fit for UVa's tough task
Virginia’s search for an offensive line coach to replace Garett Tujague took about a month and finally wrapped up (officially) on Saturday. Tony Elliott announced that Terry Heffernan would join the staff after a two-year spell at Stanford. Heffernan was available after David Shaw stepped down as the Cardinal head coach and incoming coach Troy Taylor went in a different direction.
In a statement released with the news on Saturday, Elliott said the following about Heffernan: “We are honored and fortunate to have Terry join the Virginia football family. His reputation precedes him. He did a great job at Stanford under the leadership of David Shaw. He has a wealth of experience on both the college and NFL levels that he will bring to our program. The other thing you consistently hear about Terry is his character, his ability to teach and how good of a family man he is. We’re excited he’ll be with us early next week to meet the team and get to work.”
It’s safe to say that Heffernan was one of the most-qualified offensive coordinators out there for a Power-5 job that wasn’t already employed elsewhere. Virginia ultimately gains from the coaching change at Stanford and looking at Heffernan’s resume it’s easy to see why he was a good fit for this opening. UVa’s new offensive line coach has college football experience at three different levels, including Power-5, as well as experience at the pro level.
Heffernan played his college football at Dayton, graduating in 2003. Soon after Heffernan started his coaching career, eventually landing at Louisville as a grad assistant from 2004 to 2005. Bobby Petrino was the first offensive mind that he was exposed to as a coach before he eventually moved on to do a few more seasons at Michigan, under another offensive guru in Rich Rodriguez.
After serving as a grad assistant at those two stops, Heffernan got his first full-time coaching gig at D2 Wayne State, Detroit. There, he served as the offensive line coach for five seasons with the last one ending with a trip to the D2 national title game. The next year, Heffernan was promoted to offensive coordinator. The Warriors went 5-5, averaging 21.3 points per game with him in that role.
After one season as the OC at Wayne State, Heffernan shifted course and moved to the NFL. He held two different titles with the Detroit Lions, serving as an offensive quality control coach and an assistant offensive line coach, working first under Jim Schwartz in 2013 and then for two years with Jim Caldwell. Caldwell had an underrated run with the Lions, leading them to an 11-5 season and playoff berth in 2014. There, Heffernan was exposed to more experienced offensive coaches, including OC Joe Lombardi, currently the OC with the Los Angeles Chargers, long-time QB coach Jim Bob Cooter, and his defacto boss, offensive line coach Jeremiah Washburn, who coached 17 years in the league and is now the Director of Player Personnel for the Philadelphia Eagles.
With that valuable NFL experience in hand, Heffernan went back to the college ranks as the offensive line coach at FCS Eastern Kentucky. There he teamed up with then head coach Mark Elder, who also coached at Wayne State and overlapped with Heffernan at Michigan. Heffernan served on the EKU staff for three years and his offensive line had a decent amount of success, rushing for 2,246 yards in the 2018 season.
Following three seasons at the FCS level, it was back to the NFL for Heffernan, this time with the Buffalo Bills. He was in Buffalo for the turnaround of the moribund franchise under the leadership of new head coach Sean McDermott. There, Heffernan served as an assistant offensive line coach, working alongside OL coach Bobby Johnson, a longtime NFL assistant that also coached at the Power-5 level, for five seasons at Indiana. Heffernan’s offensive coordinator in Buffalo was Brian Daboll, who is having a very successful first year as a head coach of the New York Giants.
Two seasons with the Bills got Heffernan on the radar of David Shaw, who brought him out west as Stanford’s offensive line coach. The Cardinal didn’t have a lot of on-field success during Heffernan’s time in Palo Alto, leading to Shaw’s resignation.
It’s clear that while Heffernan doesn’t have as long a resume as other Power-5 position coaches (keep in mind that he’s just 42 years old), he does have relevant experience seeing the game at different levels, coaching some talented and developmental players, and having exposure to some quality coaches. At Virginia, Heffernan’s success will be determined by his ability to develop players over time and to bring talent to Charlottesville.
He has experience at a bunch of college programs but his recruiting experience at Stanford is really what’s relevant here. That was Heffernan’s only FBS stop where he was a full-time coach and Stanford and UVa have plenty of similarities and recruit many of the same players. At Stanford, he participated in two recruiting cycles. In the 2022 class, Stanford signed the 25th-ranked group in the country, which included four offensive linemen. Two of those players, Lucas Heyer and Fisher Anderson, were four-star players. Anderson in particular is a name UVa fans may remember, as Tujague recruited him hard before he chose the Cardinal. Stanford’s other two signees in Heffernan’s first class were three-stars Jake Maikkula (also a UVa target) and Kenji Swanson, both ranked relatively high for the three-star level. All four players had plenty of Power-5 interest.
In this 2023 class, Heffernan’s second with Stanford, the new staff kept most of Shaw’s recruiting class, including three linemen that committed to play for Heffernan. Three-stars Zak Yamauchi, Simione Pale and Luke Baklenko, all West Coast products, ultimately signed with Stanford after the coaching change, but committed over the summer after Heffernan recruited them to Palo Alto. It’s worth noting that Stanford is the ultimate destination school for many prospects focused on top-flight academics, so it’s probably easier to get some of those players to Stanford than it will be to get them to Virginia. Still, it’s hard to look at the players Heffernan got commits from and come away feeling like he cannot recruit.
Heffernan’s work at UVa starts this week, and he has a big job in front of him. Virginia’s offensive line struggled following a coaching change and plenty of attrition. And following a rough season on the field, UVa lost starters Logan Taylor and John Paul Flores to the transfer portal, while Jonathan Leech and Derek Devine retired from football. UVa’s new offensive line coach must pick up the pieces with the players he has on the roster, many of whom haven’t played meaningful snaps in college yet.
He will also need to go out and identify a player or two in the transfer portal that can make an immediate impact and start building relationships with high school recruits, beginning with the 2024 class well underway.
The process to find Heffernan took a while, but now that it’s over, the hard work begins for UVa’s new O-line coach.
