After a year away from coaching, Dave Heckard said he is set to take over the Mechanicsburg program, pending approval from the school board at its June 14 meeting. Heckard stepped away from his post as the head coach at Cumberland Valley following the 2020-’21 campaign after 17 seasons with his alma mater, the last of which included a state champ in Jake Lucas.
Heckard cited family at the time of his decision to resign, but found an optimal fit for the next stage of his coaching career. He and his family live in the Mechanicsburg Area School District and he has spent the past two seasons as an assistant with the Wildcats football program, making the wrestling post a natural fit that had total support on the home front.
“I think being in the district and my kids going to school here is a big part of that,” Heckard said. “My family is here. We’re part of the community. My family was behind it. My kids and wife wanted me to do it.”
Heckard compiled a 272-84 record during his time at Cumberland Valley and led his wrestlers to four PIAA state titles, 28 state medals, 23 District 3 titles and 55 sectional titles. He will take that wealth of experience and success to a Mechanicsburg program that went 3-14 last season but had just two seniors on Its roster.
The Wildcats have a big class of rising seniors led by Tyler Budman (24-5), Parker Sample (23-8) and Antonio Zeno (20-13) that should get Heckard halfway toward building a full lineup in the Mid-Penn Keystone Division. The rest of the 2022-’23 team and the future of the program could come down to hitting the hallways, building roster numbers and reinforcing a pipeline from the elementary through the junior high and varsity levels.
Existing relationships with Mechanicsburg student-athletes, whether they wrestled or not, made Heckard a familiar face around the Wildcats program.
“It’s not like I’m going into it blindly,” he said.
Mechanicsburg is a fresh challenge for Heckard, who counts coaches such as Roger Barrick and Tim Rimpfel among his mentors in the profession. The opportunity to build upward was part of the appeal that brought him out of his one-year coaching hiatus, during which he stayed close to the sport as an analyst on The PennLive Wrestling Podcast.
Moving into the future, assuming approval of his appointment by the Mechanicsburg School Board, Heckard will be all about throwing his support behind Wildcats wrestlers and building a wrestling culture that can attract talent in greater numbers.
“The fact that my family is into it and the fact that the idea of taking a program maybe isn’t there excites me a little bit,” Heckard said. “The challenge sparked my interest. I’m here just to support the Mechanicsburg wrestling program any way I can and help them and the kids improve.
“It’s exciting in some ways to start over. I can take everything I learned in 17 years of experience at a new place and see what happens.”
Dave Heckard set to take over Mechanicsburg wrestling program, pending board approval - PennLive
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