Mike Heffernan has been the head football coach for The College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, Minn for the past 6
years.
As the head coach at St. Scholastica, Heffernan helped transition the program to the Minnesota
Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) in 2020 after previously competing in the Upper Midwest
Athletic Conference (UMAC). He mentored 10 All-MIAC players and four All-UMAC players during his
time as the head coach in Duluth.
Before being named head coach at St. Scholastica in 2019, Heffernan served as assistant head coach and
offensive coordinator in 2018, coaching five First Team All-UMAC offensive players that season. He also
held the same positions at Saint Anselm College, an NCAA Division II institution, during the 2016 and
2017 seasons.
Heffernan coached at Elmhurst University in 2013, taking on various roles, including offensive
coordinator (2015), offensive line coach (2013-15), recruiting coordinator (2014), academic coordinator
(2015), and camp coordinator (2013-14). During his time at Elmhurst, he helped mentor All-Americans
Josh Williams and Garrett Claxon, as well as an All-CCIW offensive lineman in each of his three seasons.
In his first stint at St. Scholastica, Heffernan served as the team's assistant head coach and offensive line
coach from 2009-13, helping to build the football program after its inaugural season in 2008. During that
time, he helped guide the Saints to three consecutive UMAC championships (2011-13) and three trips to
the NCAA Division III playoffs. Heffernan coached seven UMAC Players of the Year and 34 All-UMAC
honorees during that stretch.
Heffernan began his collegiate career at Illinois State University before transferring to Elmhurst in
2004. A standout defensive lineman and two-year starter for the Bluejays, Heffernan was a 2006 Second
Team All-College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) selection.
After graduating from Elmhurst in 2007, Heffernan worked as a graduate assistant coach at Northern
State University before becoming the offensive line coach and recruiting coordinator at the University of
Wisconsin-Stevens Point in 2008. That season, the team won a Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic
Conference title and earned a spot in the NCAA Division III playoffs.
A native of Lake Zurich, Ill., Heffernan and his wife, Johanna, have three children, Thor, Moira, and Virgil.
