Continuity won’t be difficult with new Heritage head coach, long-time assistant Jeremy Hullinger

While a new coach will be at the helm of the Heritage Patriots this fall, there will be nothing unfamiliar within the program.

Coach Jeremy Hullinger is a Heritage lifer. He graduated from the school in 2005, serving as an assistant coach under four different head coaches in Monroeville for the last 18 years – 10 as a coordinator.

Most recently, he served as the offensive coordinator for three of former coach Casey Kolkman’s four campaigns.

So while there may be some tweaks here or there in scheme and verbiage, Hullinger’s goals and expectations mirror in a lot of ways what came before.

“We did things and will continue to do things the Kolkman Way, mainly because that is the right way,” said Hullinger, who was approved as Heritage’s new head coach last Tuesday. “If you have character and do things the right way even when people aren’t looking and embrace hard work, the football will take care of itself.”

That approach paid dividends last season, with the Patriots’ nine victories the most in a single season since 2012. With a lot of production returning – including seniors Braden Walter (seven INTs last year) and Charlie Riddle (one of the top two-way linemen in the region) – expectations remain high despite the coaching change.

A lot of that proven production was thrilled to see Hullinger get promoted.

“They were very excited and happy for me,” Hullinger said. “Most of these kids I have known before high school and know they still have someone highly connected to Heritage leading them.”

That familiarity may be the key to Heritage’s continued resurgence. More so than in the city, community youth programs are of paramount importance to build up in an organized manner, a natural pipeline into junior high and high school. The most successful county programs have the best feeder systems with younger kids.

“Heritage is a farming community and we look at things in that our youth programs are planting the seeds, so to speak,” Hullinger said. “You need to care for those kids and keep an eye on those kids coming up.”

And that may be the biggest advantage of all for Hullinger. Growing up and coaching within the Heritage community gives him that attachment to younger brothers of kids he has coached as well as parents of kids he grew up with as friends, teammates and school mates.

In the short term, Hullinger is looking towards a large and experienced senior group to continue the ascent of Patriots football and close the gap to Adams Central at the top of the ACAC.

“We have the majority of our pass catchers returning, but we will have to replace guys like Nolan Hoskins and Kobe Meyer (32 total TDs, over 2,100 total yards last season),” Hullinger said. “But our group is really confident and Eli Tigulis moves back to his natural position (at quarterback).

“We are at a point where we have been trying to climb that mountain, and now we can start talking about higher expectations,” Hullinger said. “We need to continue to embrace that hard work to get there.”