Dan Hein was born on March 18th, 1955, in Clintonville, Wisconsin, to Marvin and Jeanette Hein. In 1960, the Hein family of 9 children moved to a Dairy farm in Manawa, Wisconsin. On the family farm his parents instilled a "you get what you pay for" attitude, which is what motivates him each and every day. Dan's wrestling career began in 9th grade at Little Wolf High School in Manawa. Dan credits his high school coach, Gene Sorenson, as his inspiration in becoming a wrestling coach. Dan attended V.W. River Falls and wrestled under the direction of Hall of Fame 1978 inductee Byron James. Dan's supportive family, especially his four older brothers, along with his great experiences in both high school and college wrestling, were his foundation for a career in teaching and coaching. Dan began his coaching career in 1978 as an assistant wrestling coach, while student teaching at Arcadia high school. In the fall of 1978, Dan began his teaching career at Sevastopol High School in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. At Sevastopol, Dan taught Physical Education and Health, and coached football, wrestling and track from 1978-1990. For several years Dan was the Head Varsity Coach in all three sports. Dan's wrestling teams at Sevastopol compiled a dual meet record of 142 wins and 43 losses. His teams won 4 Packerland Conference titles, 8 Regional titles and 6 Sectional titles. They placed 2nd in state in 1984 and again in 1985. Dan coached 10 individual state champions, including 3 time state champion, John Spahr. Dan's teams at Sevastopol were among the states top five teams eight out of the twelve years Dan was there. Dan was inducted in the Sevastopol Wrestling Hall of Fame in 1995. In the fall of 1990, Dan accepted a teaching and coaching position at Wausau West High School, where he now serves as Physical Education and Health department chair, head wrestling coach and assistant football coach. Dan took Wausau West from the bottom of the Wisconsin Valley conference, to being one of the top teams by 1994. He has continued that success each year in the quest for the Wisconsin Valley conference championship. Dan would like to credit numerous supportive families and hard working, dedicated wrestlers. He would especially like to recognize his varsity assistant coach Roger Marsh for his knowledge and love of the sport. Dan also knows that his success at Wausau West is due to many high school, middle school, and youth coaches who have supported his philosophy in coaching wrestling. Dan credits his freshmen coach Mike Pernsteiner, middle school coach, Jason Smogeleski, youth coach Dave Monk, and the wrestling club president Bill Marcis. This combine effort has produced great results at Wausau West. Dan's teams at West have a dual record of 173-58. In 1996, his team competed in the State Division I semi finals and his 1999 team was the state runner up. In 2010 Dan passed the career 300 dual meet win mark. He was voted 1984's District 4 State Coach of the year and 1999's District 2 State Coach of the year. Dan has been a member of the W.W.C.A. since 1978. He was a big advocate for the state team tournament and worked hard to get the team state series implemented in Wisconsin. Dan has enjoyed his 27 years of working with so many great people in the sport of wrestling. But even greater than his love for wrestling is his love for his family. His brothers and sisters are still seen at many of his team's matches. Dan feels that his greatest accomplishment in life was marrying his wife Robin and having four sons, Jesse, Jordan, Joshua, and Jackson. Dan has truly loved coaching his own sons, all of which have inherited his love for the greatest sport of all, wrestling.