Where does the time go?
Dave Heiss has had the opportunity to ponder that question of late. It comes with the territory.
Plugging away has brought Heiss, who’s in his 32nd season coaching men’s basketball at Waubonsee Community College, closer to yet another milestone.
On Jan. 31, his Chiefs won 94-90 at Prairie State in their coach’s 1,000th game on the WCC bench.
Saying “on the bench,” though, isn’t accurate for Heiss. Like his high school coach at West Aurora, the retired Gordie Kerkman, Heiss doesn’t sit much during a game.
He’s a pacer — and a vocal one — who shouts, encourages, fumes, cajoles and climbs up and down a virtual ladder of emotions as he tries to get the most from his team.
Heiss has consistently done that with the Chiefs. In Tuesday’s 7:15 p.m. home game — again with Prairie State — he goes for career win No. 600.
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With 407 losses, it would give him a .595 winning percentage.
“Actually, thought I might be there a couple years ago,” said Heiss, who has averaged 18.5 wins a season.
The Chiefs (17-7) have bounced back from back-to-back eight-win seasons.
“It really doesn’t surprise me,” Kerkman said of Heiss. “Dave is a basketball junkie. He just loves the game of basketball.”
Heiss, a 1980 West Aurora grad, went on to play two years at Eastern Wyoming Junior College. He then played two years at NCAA Division II Bemidji State in Minnesota, wrapping up with a summer league stint with the Utah Jazz’s rookie team.
That summer, WCC athletics manager Dave Randall and dean of students Paul Bosse took a chance on the 23-year-old Heiss for his first coaching job of leading WCC for the 1985-86 season.
It’s been his only coaching job, but that wasn’t his plan.
“Ultimately, the goal was to be on television, leading a Division I program,” Heiss said.
He saw others do it. And, some assistant coaching jobs did come up. But for any number of reasons, the timing never seemed right. His three children all went to West Aurora and his son, D.J., even played for Kerkman.
“It finally hit me, and almost became spiritual over the years, that this is where I was meant to be,” Heiss said.
He thinks junior college is the hardest job in coaching, with players available for only two years and facing numerous other challenges.
Rosters can change dramatically at midseason, too, after first semester grades come in.
No doubt, it played a part in Heiss being instrumental in establishing the school’s S.T.A.R. program, an academic assistance and monitoring system for WCC’s student-athletes.
He’s also a full-time instructor in the physical education department and will teach four more years. He’s not sure he’ll continue to coach that long..
“Sixty percent of my job has nothing to do with X’s and O’s,” Heiss said.
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Heiss recalled meeting a longtime Division I coach at a convention who had been fired and was trying to climb back up via a junior college job.
“He said coaching JC basketball is kind of like dog years,” Heiss said. “Each season takes seven years off your life.”
It has its rewards, however.
“What I’ve enjoyed the most is probably the relationships I’ve developed,” Heiss said. “Many players still stay in touch. It’s a great platform to teach. They’re part of the family.
“Even guys who don’t go on to play at a four-year school, to see them graduate and move on to productive careers is very gratifying.”
And then there are stories like this season’s team leader. Tyrone Carey, 25, came back to play again and will use basketball to earn a four-year degree.
It’s admirable work, indeed.
Twitter @RickArmstrong28