Anyone who knows women's volleyball feels a sense of awe and reverence for the history of the Penn State women's volleyball program when they walk into Rec Hall. However, Minnesota assistant coaches Brian Hefferman and Kim Kumfer felt something more when they walked in it Friday night for the Golden Gophers game with the Nittany Lions.

Both Hefferman and Kumfer have spent a lot of time in the building the Lions call home, and for them, entering that building brings back a rush of old memories. Both coaches are Penn State graduates, and each had solid careers as members of the Penn State men's and women's volleyball teams respectively.

"It's awesome to come in here," Kumfer said. "I love this building. I feel a lot of pride in this program. Whenever I see anyone from the group I played with, we always talk about the glory days, and when I'm here I get all the memories of what happened when I was playing here."

Though Kumfer's career was affected by injury, she still had one of the most prolific careers in Penn State women's volleyball history.

She suffered a severe shoulder injury between her sophomore and junior year, which took some of the pop out of her swing. However, she learned to produce defensively and take a different approach to scoring. She is the school's all time digs leader. She was named to the All-Atlantic 10 team her first two seasons. In her junior and senior seasons, after the Lions had switched to the Big Ten, Kumfer was recognized as an honorable mention to the All-Big Ten team.

"Kim was one of the toughest players I've ever coached," Penn State women's volleyball coach Russ Rose said. "I never had to worry about whether she was going to play as hard as she could every time she was out on the floor. She knew exactly what her role was, and I knew mine was just to stay out of her way."

After leaving Penn State, Kumfer served as an assistant coach at the University of San Francisco. After the 1995 season, she went to American University. She left American last season to coach Pittsburgh before going to Minnesota for the 2001 season.

Heffernan spent a few more years in Penn State after playing in three final fours as a player from 1990-1993. He stayed on as an assistant coach in 1994, helping the Lions to a national championship. Afterwards, he spent time coaching the Pepperdine men's team, the Cal-State University at Los Angeles and the USA women's Youth and Junior national teams before coming to Minnesota before last season.

"It's always great to be back here," Heffernan said. "I was blessed to have the experiences I've had here. It's nice to be part of Penn State history, and see those banners up here when I come back to Rec Hall."

Both coaches have tight connections with Penn State's assistant coaches. Penn State assistant coach Mike Schall roomed with Heffernan in college, and was part of his wedding party. Kumfer and Penn State's Julie Miller also played together in college.

Both coaches have a lot of reasons to be torn when they come back to State College, but both know how to focus on the goals of their current jobs.

"Anyone that's ever played for Russ has so much pride for this team," Kumfer said. "It's great to come back and see him and talk to him, but at the same time I realize that coaching is my job, and when the game starts, I just have to look at Penn State as just another opponent."