Humble start for Heinauer
ADAMS TWP — It was a humbling start for Scott Heinauer as the head football coach at Mars.
He took over the Planets in 1992 and the team won just a single game that season.
But a 7-4 record and trip to the WPIAL playoffs followed the next year, beginning an era of consistent winning at Mars, which has endured a losing season just four times in the 28 seasons since.
Heinauer joined a very exclusive group Friday when a 42-21 victory over Greensburg Salem gave him 200 victories at Mars.
He is now 200-109 at the school.
“I wasn't thinking about 200 that first season, especially after going 1-9,” Heinauer said, laughing. “I feel fortunate and blessed because this is about a lot of people, players and coaches. A lot of things go into 200 victories.”
While action on the gridiron may be much like it was in the early 1990s, there is much more these days to distract players from the task at hand. Heinauer's ability to relate to players has remained strong, however.
“Between social media, player highlight videos and film, there's a lot out there that grabs kids' attention that didn't exist before,” said Dave Goodworth, who has been on Heinauer's staff since 1994 and the defensive coordinator for 19 seasons. “Some of them get a sense of entitlement.
“But Scott has created an environment that builds trust between the players and coaches. When you have that trust, it allows you to pat a kid on the back, but also kick him in the butt when it's needed.”
“Sometimes as a head coach, you have to be the bad guy,” added offensive coordinator Scott Pfeiffer. “The biggest thing Scott has done is bring stability to the program. He believes in what we're doing and he sticks with it.”
Pfeiffer also related that Heinauer lets his assistants do their job without always looking over their shoulder.
“He allows us to come up with different things, whether on offense or defense. And if something doesn't work, he doesn't point fingers.
“If we have a bad game offensively, I might second-guess myself, but it's never going to come from him. That attitude makes it easier on all the coaches.”
A strong camaraderie exists amongst the assistant coaches, which helps foster a family-like atmosphere.
“Scott Pfeiffer was the best man at my wedding,” Goodworth said. “We all know each other and we mesh well together.”
As for the players, they seem to look back fondly on their days of playing football at Mars.
“I run into former players and we always end up talking football,” Pfeiffer said. “That says a lot. It was a positive experience for them.”
