A Father's Career, A Family's Passion Became A Daughter's Dream
Jeff Hecklinski went to college at the University of Illinois for football, but after losing a three-way battle for the starting quarterback job to Johnny Johnson, he transferred to Western Illinois where he enjoyed success, throwing for over 5,000 yards in his career. After a year in the Arena League, he went into coaching, starting at Benedictine University in Springfield, Illinois.
Hecklinski married into an athletic family with deep roots in the state of Indiana. It's no wonder he spent five years coaching at Ball State and a few at Indiana State. His father-in-law, Mike Deal, was part of the Indiana team that went to the 1967 Rose Bowl. Deal's brother and father both played for the Hoosiers with Russ Deal, a captain of the 1945 Rose Bowl team, a member of the Hoosiers Hall of Fame.
So when Jeff Hecklinski had sons, it seemed fated that they would be the ones to carry on that family's proud football tradition, which they have. Less expected would be his daughter, Riley not only found a love for the game of football, but decided to pursue a career in scouting. The Cleveland Browns hired Riley to be a full-time scouting assistant at the end of May fresh off of graduating from college.
The 'girl dad' bond was strong enough that when Jeff Hecklinski took a job as the offensive coordinator for Indiana State, Riley went there to play softball. When injury and four surgeries on her wrist forced her to think about what she wanted to do when her own playing career was over, she decided to pursue football and scouting, opting to medically retire from softball.
When her father took a job at the University of Kansas coaching tight ends under Les Miles, Riley went with him and started her journey in scouting in recruiting and evaluation. She started at the bottom as a volunteer, doing the grunt work like stuffing envelopes, trying to learn as much as possible.
Riley was fortunate enough to be invited to spend a week at the 2020 Reese's Senior Bowl by Executive Director Jim Nagy to work with special teams players and do some scouting. She took advantage of the opportunity, picking the brains of people she was working with who had been in this business for years.
Her roommate for the week in Mobile was Kathleen Wood, who was hired as a full-time scout by the Browns. Wood is someone Riley has already said she has learned a lot from and looks up to, which helps to explain why both of them now find themselves in Cleveland.
When her dad took the job to be the offensive coordinator at San Diego State this offseason, that's where Riley ended up while being in lockdown due to COVID-19. In those proceeding months after the Senior Bowl, she spent time watching tape and evaluating prospects at the same dining room table her father was working on recruiting, preparing for his first season with the Aztecs.
Now that she's a full-time assistant scout for the Browns while her father is at San Diego State right after graduating from Indiana State, they find themselves on almost opposite ends of the country pursuing their goals. Whether it's her father, grandfather or her brothers, they continue to share the passion of football and she now has the opportunity to chase her dream with the Browns.
