GREEN BAY – Mike Heideman, who served as both an assistant coach and later as the head coach for the Green Bay men's basketball team for 16 seasons from 1986-2002, passed away on Saturday after battling with cancer at the age of 70. 
 
Heideman was an assistant coach at GB from 1986-1995, before taking over as head coach heading into the 1995-96 season. In his first season at the helm, Heideman led the Phoenix to a 25-4 record and an NCAA Tournament appearance. The 25-4 record still stands as the best winning season (.862) in the program's Division I history, and also marked the only undefeated season (16-0) in conference play history. He finished his career with a 110-95 coaching record at GB that included a pair of seasons with 20 wins or more. 

A native of Appleton, Wis., and a 1966 graduate from Appleton Xavier, Heideman was instrumental to the program's dominance and success in the early 90s. He was the head assistant under Hall of Fame coach Dick Bennett, and the two combined to lead GB to NCAA Tournament appearances in 1991, 1994 and 1995. The 1994 team was inducted into in the Green Bay Athletics Hall of Fame in 2016, which picked up the biggest win in program history when it upset California in the NCAA Tournament First Round.

Heideman said, 'I would like to help you build a very solid Division I program,'" Bennett recalled earlier this year. "Over the next number of years, that happened. I received most of the credit. But the real truth is, the guy who did not get near enough credit was Mike Heideman.

He started his collegiate coaching career at St. Norbert College in 1982, going 66-25 in four seasons. He led the Green Knights to the Sweet 16 in Division III in 1984, a feat they wouldn't accomplish again for 32 years. Heideman was inducted into Xavier's Hall of Fame in 2014, two years after being inducted into the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

Heideman was honored at halftime this past season during a January 27, 2018, game against Youngstown State at the Resch Center. GB won that game 85-67, with Heideman receiving a standing ovation at halftime after an emotional recognition led by Bennett and several other alums from the program's proud history.

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