Rick Heller showed up on Saturday as I expected
By Pat Harty
IOWA CITY, Iowa – Rick Heller already has shown that he is the best thing to happen to the Iowa baseball program in quite a while, maybe ever.
It might be a reach to call him a program saver, but Heller is certainly a program rebuilder.
The Eldon native has lifted Iowa from mediocrity to Big Ten contender, and his impact was immediate. Iowa has won at least 30 games in each of Heller’s four seasons as head coach and made the NCAA Tournament in two of the past three seasons.
Heller and his players also just returned from a 16-day trip to Taiwan where they represented Team USA in the World University Games and came home with a silver medal.
So yeah, the Iowa baseball program is definitely trending in the right direction under the 53-year old Heller, who is now poised to receive a new contract.
Iowa is the fourth college baseball program that Heller has turned from rags to riches, or at least made better.
His alma mater, Upper Iowa, was the first, followed by Northern Iowa, Indiana State and now Iowa.
Why Heller?
Why has he succeeded, while others in his position haven’t?
It is partly due to luck because luck matters, an example being North Dakota's decision to drop baseball. That led to Jake Adams signing with Iowa and the rest is history with Adams having hit a school record 29 home runs this past season.
Heller also has benefitted greatly from facility upgrades, although, he is largely responsible for the facility upgrades, by first demanding it upon being hired and then winning enough to deserve it.
But there are little things that make Heller special, too. Little things like taking the time to meet a 12-year Hawkeye fan on a morning when there wasn’t much time, if any, to do anything besides what already was on Heller’s busy schedule.
Heller made time to meet 12-year old Ty Naaktgeboren at UI President Bruce Harreld’s pre-game tailgater this past Saturday because it was the right thing to do.
That isn’t to say that Heller’s predecessors at Iowa wouldn’t have done the same thing because they probably would have.
But it would’ve been easy for Heller under the circumstances to have skipped the event due to a schedule that had him returning home from Taiwan barely 24 hours earlier.
Iowa also hosted several baseball recruits on Saturday, so Heller was being pulled in a number of directions.
And yet, he still made time to meet Naaktgeboren, who had gained notoriety by expressing his love for the Iowa football team while being introduced as a participant in the Little League World Series.
“My name is Ty Naaktgeboren and my favorite team is the Iowa football team. Go Hawks,” Naaktgeboren said while being introduced as a member of the team from Sioux Falls, S.D.
Ty’s comment went viral on Facebook, and that’s when Dirk Sterner got involved.
Sterner, who works as a program systems manager for the University of Iowa, was so touched by Ty’s devotion to the Hawkeyes that he wanted to show his gratitude, and did so, by getting Ty four tickets to Iowa’s season opener against Wyoming.
President Harreld read about Ty’s comment on Allhawkeyes and he invited Ty to his tailgater event this past Saturday morning. Ty attended the event, along with one of his best friends and members of his family.
Sterner didn’t just stop with the tickets, though.
He wanted to do something else for Ty. Sterner wanted Ty to meet Heller, and he asked me last Monday if I thought it could happen.
Heller was in Taiwan at the time and wasn’t expected to return home until late in the evening last Thursday or early Friday morning.
I told Sterner that if it were humanly possible Heller would make time to meet Ty on Saturday morning.
Sterner sent Heller an e-mail early last week, but it took about two days for Heller to respond, which is understandable considering the unique circumstances. Heller said he would try to meet Ty on Saturday, but stopped short of making a promise.
I again told Sterner that Heller would be there on Saturday and not to worry.
Saturday morning then arrived, and so did Heller about halfway through the hour-long tailgate event.
I could see both relief and joy on Sterner’s face when he saw that Heller had arrived.
I looked at Sterner and said, “I told you so. That’s Rick Heller.”
Attention to detail and building a culture are both key factors in being a successful head coach, and little things like making yourself available to meet a young fan at a less-than-convenient time is part of building a culture.
Heller posed for photos with Ty and they talked about Ty’s march to the Little League World Series and about his plans for the school year. They basically just made small talk, but for Ty, it was a huge moment, something he will cherish forever.