 In his first coaching jobs, Hiestand was an offensive line coach at Toledo (1988), graduate assistant coach at Southern California (1987) and tight ends and assistant line coach at Penn (1986).He began his coaching career at his alma mater, East Stroudsburg University, after an injury ended his playing days.Hiestand has been a part of league championship teams at five of his seven stops, at East Stroudsburg (1982–83), Penn (1986), USC (1987), Cincinnati (1993) and Illinois (2001).