Drew Heitland is in his third year with the University of Iowa football program. He currently serves as assistant strength and conditioning coach after previously serving as manager of nutrition and performance analytics.
Heitland prepares daily analytic reports for student-athlete recovery, manages GPS technology and Fatigue Science performance tracking data, coach’s athletes on proper exercise technique, and assists with other areas of the strength and conditioning program.
The Hawkeyes won 10 games in 2021, winning the Big Ten’s West Division title and advancing to the conference championship game. Iowa concluded the season with an appearance in the Vrbo Citrus Bowl and was ranked 23rd in the nation in the final national rankings. Iowa’s streak of nine straight bowl invitations matches the longest in school history and the Hawkeyes have been in the Top 25 final rankings four straight seasons.
Iowa opened the 2021 season with six straight wins and closed the regular season with four straight victories to earn the West Division title and a berth in the league championship game for the second time since 2015. Iowa has been in the final national rankings in each of the past four seasons and has earned 19 conference wins in the past three seasons, Iowa’s highest three-year conference win total since 2002-04.
Following back-to-back narrow losses to open the 2020 season, Iowa won six straight games, all in Big Ten play, to complete the regular season. The Hawkeyes were ranked 15th in the nation in the final CFP rankings and coaches poll, and 16th by the Associated Press.
Iowa’s most recent bowl game invitations include the 2022 Citrus Bowl, 2020 Music City Bowl, 2019 Holiday Bowl, 2019 Outback Bowl, 2017 Outback Bowl, 2016 Rose Bowl Game, 2015 TaxSlayer Bowl and 2014 Outback Bowl. The Hawkeyes have ranked in the final top 10 of both major polls five times in the past 20 seasons.
Iowa won 47 games from 2015-19, the highest total in school history over any five-year period, and a total that ranked ninth nationally. Iowa won its final four games in 2019 and ranked 15th in the nation in the final Associated Press and coaches polls.
Heitland returned to the Hawkeye program from the University of Missouri, where he was an assistant athletic performance coach in 2019. Heitland served as an intern with the Iowa strength and condition program from May-August, 2018. Along with his previous internship with Iowa football, Heitland was a strength and conditioning intern at Coe College during the 2017-18 academic year.
Heitland holds CSCS certification, K-12 teaching authorization, and Coaching Authorization from the state of Iowa. He holds his Health Endorsement and is American Red Cross certified for CPR/AED/First Aid.
Heitland earned his bachelor’s degree from Coe College in 2018, majoring in physical education with a strength and conditioning emphasis. He earned his master’s degree in exercise science from Concordia University in St. Paul, Minnesota, in 2020.
Heitland was born 1996, and is a native of Cedar Rapids, Iowa.