Lions hire Terry Heffernan as assistant offensive line coach

The Detroit Lions have decided to hire Wayne State's Terry Heffernan to be their new assistant offensive line coach. Heffernan takes over the job that was vacated by Jeremiah Washburn, who was promoted to the main offensive line coach job last month.

Heffernan joins the Lions after spending six seasons as Wayne State's offensive line coach. Before going to Wayne State, he served as a graduate assistant offensive line coach at Michigan and a graduate assistant defensive line coach at Louisville.

Heffernan was at Wayne State at the same time as Lions running back Joique Bell. As noted by MLive, Bell rushed for 2,150 yards and 29 touchdowns his senior season, and the Wayne State running game has continued to impress since Bell went to the NFL.

In 70 games with Heffernan coaching the line, Wayne State averaged 197.8 yards rushing per game. According to his bio on the school's website, the 2011 unit was known as the "Road Graders." That season the Warriors averaged 200.6 yards on the ground, won a school-record 12 games, and made it to the Division II championship game.

It's not clear if the Lions have now finalized their coaching staff for 2013 or if they still need to find a replacement assistant secondary coach. (Marcus Robertson was promoted to secondary coach after Tim Walton was hired by the St. Louis Rams.) In any case, it does appear that the offensive coaching staff is now set with the Lions hiring Heffernan.

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