Coach Heffernan’s Approach to Building a Winning Culture
1. Master the Small Things
"Set high standards in every detail. No detail is too small. I say all the time, 'Little things win big matches.' We practice that way every day."Success isn’t born from one monumental effort — it’s crafted from a collection of small, everyday wins. Coach Heffernan knows that the smallest details can shift the tide of a match. From foot placement to hand position, these micro-movements add up. Wrestlers in his program are taught to respect and master these details, understanding that what seems insignificant today can become the deciding factor on the mat tomorrow. Every practice, every rep, every moment — it all matters.
"Focus on competing in practice. You have to learn how to compete at a high level before you learn how to win. Wins and losses don’t matter early in the season if you’re learning how to compete. Once you learn to not be afraid to compete against the best guys, that’s when winning happens. It’s a mindset we work on all the time."
Coach Heffernan teaches his athletes that winning isn’t the first step — learning to compete is. In every practice, his wrestlers battle as if the match is on the line. The score may not count, but the effort does. His goal is to remove fear from the equation, encouraging his athletes to embrace competition against the best. By building competitors first, he creates winners naturally.
3. Train Every Part of the Wrestler
"Technique, strength, and conditioning are three equal parts that make wrestlers good or great. None is more important than the other. I’ll add a fourth to that equation — toughness. We work on that a lot in practice. Never get out-toughed or out-hustled in a match. Those are things you can control. Sometimes your opponent is just better, and you tip your hat to him. But effort, toughness, and hustle win a lot of matches."
Teach to control the controllable: effort, grit, and hustle. Coach Heffernan instills the belief that while you may not always win, you can always outlast, outwork, and out-hustle your opponent. Sometimes, pure skill wins. But more often, it’s toughness that makes the difference.
Coach Heffernan’s approach speaks to the soul of the sport, reminding us that true victory isn’t found in medals, but in the person you become through the struggle.
