Haynes on sit, waiting
MOBILE, Ala. — The 2012 season Paul Haynes spent at Arkansas wasn’t under the most ideal of conditions, but Haynes, the newly hired Kent State coach, said he is hoping it helps him when he takes over the Golden Flashes for good after Sunday’s GoDaddy.com Bowl.
Haynes spent about 10 minutes before Kent State played in its first bowl game in 40 years Sunday talking about his first head coaching job, which he landed in December just a few weeks after his lone season as Arkansas’ defensive coordinator.
Haynes was hired by former Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino last winter before an April motorcycle crash led to Petrino’s firing and the hiring of John L. Smith, who guided the Razorbacks to a 4-8 record as interim coach.
Haynes praised Smith for allowing him and offensive coordinator Paul Petrino to be “head coaches of our side of the ball.” Haynes said he spent the season implementing ideas he thought he might use if he ever became a head coach.
“All the things I was thinking about, if I was going to be a head coach, these are the things I would start to do,” Haynes said. “Those are the things I implemented just as a defense. It helped me out a lot for this stage to become a head coach.”
Before arriving at Arkansas, Haynes was the co-defensive coordinator at Ohio State in 2011 under interim coach Luke Fickell after Jim Tressell had resigned the previous spring.
“You have to deal with adversity and keep a team together,” Haynes said. “I know we didn’t accomplish what we wanted to accomplish, but to end the season like we did, to have a chance to beat LSU, we really kept that team together.”
Haynes said he kept a low profile over the weekend as current Golden Flashes Coach Darrell Hazell led Kent State through bowl preparations for Sunday night’s game against Arkansas State. Hazell will begin his new job as Purdue’s head coach today.
Haynes wasn’t at a Friday practice, the last that was open to the media before Sunday’s game, but said he has had a chance to speak with outgoing seniors and has spent about 10 or 15 minutes chatting with Hazell about recruiting.
“I wanted Coach Hazell and his staff and his football team to finish this thing out the right way, without me being in the way or anything like that,” Haynes said. “It’s just out of respect for them to get it down and finish it right.”