Heins Joins Track & Field/Cross Country Coaching Staff

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – University of Louisville head track and field/cross country coach Dale Cowper has announced that Eric Heins will join his staff as an assistant coach.

"I'm excited to add Eric to our staff," said Cowper. "We worked through a tremendous field of candidates for this position and he clearly stands out from the crowd. Eric is a proven coach and leader that will be able to make an immediate impact on our program."

Heins comes to Louisville from the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas. While at St. Thomas, he built the Celts' first men's and women's varsity track and field programs as they prepare to begin competition in 2021.

"I am very excited to be joining the staff at the University of Louisville and look forward to the challenge of coaching distance runners on the track and a cross country team in the ACC," said Heins. "I would like to thank Coach Cowper and the administration for giving me this opportunity to get back to coaching cross country and distance runners."

Prior to his time at the University of St. Thomas, Heins spent 13 seasons at Northern Arizona University (2007-19), serving as the Director of Track and Field and Cross Country programs from 2009-16.

Throughout his time at the helm of NAU's cross country teams, Heins helped guide the Lumberjacks to national prominence. The 2016 NCAA Division I Men's Cross Country Coach of the Year guided the men's teams to six podium finishes, including 2016 national championship – the school's first in any sport as well as the first NCAA Championship for a Big Sky Conference school outside of football. Heins also led two women's teams to the NCAA Championships including a seventh-place finish in 2007.

In addition to earning NCAA Division 1 Men's Mountain Regional Cross Country Coach of the Year honors in both 2013 and 2016, Heins collected numerous Big Sky Conference laurels. He was named the Big Sky Conference's men's Coach of the Year in both the indoor and outdoor track and field seasons in each of his last five seasons as a head coach. He also swept the women's indoor and outdoor Coach of the Year awards in 2014 and was named the women's Outdoor Track & Field Coach of the Year again in 2016.

Heins began his career at NAU as the head cross country coach while serving an assistant on the track and field coaching staff from 2007-09. He was named the Director Track and Field and Cross Country in 2009 and served in that role until 2016.

His coaching resume features 64 individual conference champions, 14 All-Americans, two national champions, and one Olympian.

In December, 2016, Heins stepped away from coaching when he moved with his wife and son to Houston and worked as a senior admissions officer for Northern Arizona in that area.

Prior to his time at Northern Arizona, Heins was an assistant track and cross country coach at TCU (2006-06). He began his collegiate coaching career at Southeast Missouri State where he served as an assistant track and cross country coach from 2003-06.

Heins earned his Bachelor of Science in Health Promotion and Education from the University of Cincinnati in 1999. While in Cincinnati, he competed for the Bearcats' in track and field and cross country from 1995-99. He went on to earn his Master of Science Degree in Kinesiology in 2001 from Indiana University, where he also spent one season as a varsity track and field athlete for the Hoosiers.

In 2004, Heins won the 2004 St. Louis Marathon, and competed in the 2008 U.S. Olympic Marathon trials.

"My wife and I started looking at opportunities that would get us closer to our families and Louisville is the exact midpoint between both of our families," said Heins. "Coupled with a great university, outstanding athletic department, a dynamic staff and an amazing city made this an easy decision."

University of Louisville Athletics

Heins Joins Track & Field/Cross Country Coaching Staff

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