New Heiar-archy As Northwest Florida Mentor Named Coach Of The Tournament

(March 19, 2022) Hutchinson, KS – In addition to capturing the 2022 National Championship Saturday night, Northwest Florida State College head coach Greg Heiar (pronounced “hire”) received some hardware of his own.

During post game award ceremonies, Heiar was named the Coach of the Tournament after leading his team to five wins in six days to grab the programs third National Title, their first since 2015. It is his first national championship.

In this, his first season as head coach of the Raiders, Heiar guided the team to a 31-5 overall record, returned the team to Hutch after back to back losing seasons, and reached the pinnacle with their 83-67 mastery of #1 Seed, #1 ranked Salt Lake CC in the title game.

Heiar, who is no stranger to Juco ball, was announced as the head coach to be at NW for the 2021-22 season, even before the end of 2020-21. Then head coach Butch Pierre resigned due to a family medical crises, and Assistant Coach Nate Laing finished out that year as Interim Head Coach. A year the Raiders ended up 6-15.

Greg officially became the Raiders head coach on April 30, 2021. Laing was retained by Heiar as an assistant on his staff.

GH, brought with him a long and successful history on his resume, including a boat load of DI coaching experiences. Greg had assistant stints at East Tennessee State, LSU, Southern Mississippi, and Wichita State, among others.

His coaching path also took him through follow Florida Panhandle Conference member Chipola College, located in nearby Marianna, FL. Greg was the head coach of the Indians for five years. Before taking full control at Chipola, Greg served as an assistant for one year.

While leading the Indians, his teams won 164 games, capturing five Panhandle Conference Championships. In addition, Heiar took Chipola to four appearances in the NJCAA National Tournament. In 2009, they posted a record of 35-2, reaching the final four at Hutch, finishing 3rd.

A Juco Product himself, Coach Heiar started his college basketball career at Kirkwood CC in Cedar Rapids, IA, helping his team make it’s first ever DII national tournament appearance. Heiar hails from DuBuque, IA.

So the Heiar hire was quick to pay dividends for the Northwest Florida basketball program. After four final four stops in the last eleven years, including two titles and back to back runners-up plaques in 2012 & 2013, plus three appearances in the national quarterfinals, the Raiders can easily lay claim as the current kingpin of NJCAA Men’s DI basketball.

GH in his six seasons as DI Juco Head Coach has five national tournament appearances, a third place finish and now a Championship. There is a new “Heiar-archy” that has been established. Good luck to everyone in trying to knock him and them off their perch.

Just so you know, the definition of Heiar-archy is broken down as: “Heiar” (Greg’s last name) and “archy” as in rules/governs. You can do the math to catch my drift.