Celebrated Iowa State defensive coordinator Jon Heacock has ‘officially retired a Cyclone’

AMES — Fate can be fickle.

Its interminable twists and turns can lead down unpaved roads that snake into inscrutable landscapes. Signposts vanish. Doubt creeps in, until, finally, a fork emerges.

That’s where a then-wide-eyed 20-something Jon Heacock found himself in the late summer of 1983. The highly decorated college football coach whose 43-year career recently ended at Iowa State, had just graduated from Muskingum University in New Concord, Ohio, with a degree in health and physical education. He’d starred as a football player there, and — coming from a family of teachers and coaches — yearned to follow in those familiar footsteps.

But Heacock’s planned path seemed to consist of a single dead end. Several of them, actually.

“I had interviewed for jobs, but just didn’t get any of the teaching/coaching jobs,” said Heacock, whose innovative 3-3-5 stack scheme gave the Cyclones one of the stingiest defenses in the Big 12 — and sometimes in the country — in most of his 10 seasons in Ames. “So it was end of July (or early) August of ’83 and I was at home, and I had gone and put in my name as a substitute teacher. (So), am I gonna teach and coach, or am I gonna train and get into the Highway Patrol? That was always in the back of my mind.”

Then fate intervened. Heacock received a call from a coach at Toledo he’d played under in the past. Turns out the young man they’d tabbed to be a graduate assistant on the Rockets’ defensive staff was still in an NFL training camp. And back then, roster cuts didn’t come until the end of camp, so he wouldn’t be available.

“So what do you think, Jon? Are you interested? Can you be here?”

Heacock didn’t flinch.

“He called me and (said), ‘Hey, we start in five days,’” Heacock recalled.

So he packed. His dad helped him get a car loan for a snazzy, brand-new Chevrolet Cavalier. The potential job with the Ohio Highway Patrol would still be on the table if coaching didn’t work out, but Heacock’s dream — once back in place — took the front seat.

“Moved to Toledo, rented a room out of a house for like 75 bucks, and 43 years later, here I am,” he said.

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‘It’s time’

Heacock — who coached under legends such as Bo Schembechler of Michigan and Jim Tressel, then of Youngstown State — completed his paperwork to resign as ISU’s defensive coordinator on Jan. 31.

He’ll remain in close contact with myriad former players and fellow coaches, but after entertaining several offers to be an analyst, he eventually chose retirement — and a life as an Ames resident. For now, at least.

"it was time for me to hand to hang up my whistle from coaching,” said Heacock, who won three FCS national championships in the 1990s while serving under Tressel at Youngstown. “That ship has sailed for me. … Now, what's next? I don't know. Can I survive without it? Can you not be around football? I mean, this whole game is built on relationships.”

Those bonds — as mentioned above — will remain tight. Current players will text and call for advice. Former coaching colleagues will do the same. Heacock’s life is steeped in football and that will never change. He’s still a teacher and coach at heart.

“We may just stay here and this may be home,” he said.

Heacock estimated that he’s moved 11 times and lived in 15 or 16 different houses during his long, winding and successful coaching journey that included a stint as Youngstown’s head coach from 2001-09. But his 10-season stretch with ISU is the longest one of his career — and he leaves the program on its strongest footing ever despite head coach Matt Campbell leaving to take the Penn State job.

“I’m blessed,” Heacock said. “This was a great stop for me along the way. … I'm always rooting for our players, the new players that come in, and I hope they welcome the new players like they welcomed us when we got here years ago. I mean, that's what you want. And I'm rooting for our kids. The older I've gotten, it’s just, like, I don't root for teams. I root for coaches. I root for people (who) are difference makers.”

‘I’m always a Cyclone’

Heacock — who lives in Ames with his wife, Trescia (aka “the boss”) — helped the Cyclones notch a first-ever New Year’s Six bowl win when they beat Oregon in the Fiesta Bowl amid the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021. ISU reached two Big 12 title games, notched 11 wins — a program record — in 2024, and beat the Miami Hurricanes in the 2024 Pop-Tarts Bowl. The Cyclones compiled winning seasons in all but one season since 2016, but all of these achievements pale in comparison to the teaching component Heacock takes so much pride in.

“My dad used to always say, ‘It’s better to be a big fish in a small pond,’” said Heacock, who considered numerous offers to be an analyst next season before deciding to retire. “And the people have made it that much more special. The people in the building, the people in the stands, the people in the grocery stores here, our neighborhood, our neighbors here. That's why it's been so special, I think, which is on top of the football thing

“Watching players have success that, you know, it's well documented. I mean, a lot of the guys we recruited, you know, are two and three-star guys, and they're playing on Sundays, and they're helped us win 11 games (in a single season). And it's just priceless to watch the kids have success. I remember standing — I distinctly remember standing at the end of the West Virginia game and just standing on the sideline and watching our kids. It's a picture I'll never forget, of watching our kids celebrate and the fans storm the field, and it was like the coolest event ever.”

That 30-14 win over the then-No. 6 Mountaineers came on Oct. 13, 2018. Jack Trice Stadium was electric. ISU was still just a rising program in year 3 under Campbell, but it demonstrated — along with big wins at Oklahoma and at home against TCU the pervious season — anything is possible for a long-forlorn Cyclones’ program that could rise even higher under new head coach Jimmy Rogers.

"The rewards are so much greater,” Heacock said of ISU’s success during his long tenure. “I feel like with the players, watching them grow up, and watching them change their lives, and in a place like this — because, like I’ve said, it’s happening at the other (blue blood) places. Sometimes you feel like it always happens at those places. It had never happened here.”

‘Officially retired a Cyclone!’

The above words came via text message from Heacock recently. He’s just an Ames resident now. A husband. A father. A good neighbor.

His daughter, Adelyn, earned a nursing degree at Des Moines Area Community College, got married, and lives in Prairie City. His son, Jace, graduated from ISU and is now a recruiting assistant on Campbell’s staff at Penn State.

So life, teaching and coaching has come full circle for Heacock. That once-shiny Chevy Cavalier is long gone. There would be no Ohio Highway Patrol badge in his drawer once he hit the age of 65 this year. Just a stunning string of accomplishments spanning 43 seasons — and the enduring relationships built along the way as Heacock’s journey hit anything but a dead end. He went out on his own terms.

“It took us probably four years to figure out how to do it here,” Heacock said. “And it all gets done here by the people in Iowa, the players, the walk-ons in your program, the kids within a five-hour radius of here, and you realize that's how it got done — with really good people. And so I think it's been a cool spot, because I know how hard we had to work to change everything here to do something that had never, ever been done in 130 years. And yet the rewards that you got?”

Enough said.

Comment: robgray18@icloud.com