Winston-Salem State might reach back to its glory days in football to find its next athletics director.
Bill Hayes, who led the WSSU football program to its greatest heights in the late 1970s and early 1980s, is being targeted by Chancellor Donald Reaves for the AD's position, several sources said.
Reaves was hoping to introduce the new athletics director today at "Meet the Rams," a fall-sports pep rally at Bowman Gray Stadium scheduled from 2 to 4 p.m. However, those plans fell through when Tim Grant took himself out of contention earlier this week.
Hayes, currently the AD at Florida A&M, said Thursday night that he hasn't been contacted by WSSU officials.
"I haven't heard anything from them officially throughout this whole process," said Hayes, who is 64 and still owns a home in Winston-Salem. "I don't know what they have planned, but I haven't talked to them at all in an official capacity."
Hayes said he has been working hard at Florida A&M, getting ready for another football season.
If Reaves is courting Hayes to be WSSU's next AD, he most likely would need permission from James Ammons, Florida A&M's chancellor, to speak with Hayes. Reaves could not be reached for comment yesterday.
"That's usually how it works -- they would have to get some sort of permission to talk with me in any kind of official way," Hayes said.
Hayes, who makes about $175,000 a year, signed a three-year contract Jan. 2, 2008, and would begin the third year of that contract in January 2010.
A native of Durham, Hayes played football at N.C. Central and graduated in 1965. He started coaching at the high-school level, then took over a moribund program at WSSU in 1975.
Success followed quickly. By 1977, the Rams were 11-1 and CIAA champions. Hayes put together an 89-41-2 record in his 12-year run as the Rams' coach, and led his teams to seven CIAA championship games and three CIAA titles.
He later coached at N.C. A&T, then moved into administration as the athletics director at N.C. Central.
Hayes has always had a soft spot for the school that gave him his first job as a college head coach.
"I've got a good relationship with the Winston-Salem State family," he said. "I started there, and I've always had an affinity with that program, and I think people know that."
Hayes admits that he follows the Rams on the Internet and checks to see how they are doing in all sports. He has made it to past homecoming games in football when possible.
"It's a great place, and I don't have anything but positives to say about the whole situation," Hayes said.
When asked if he was interested in the job, Hayes said: "I'm working now. I have a job."
Hayes, who is in the N.C. Central, Winston-Salem State and CIAA halls of fame, is a name that alumni would recognize.
When reminded that WSSU had no weight room when he came in as coach and that players lifted bricks and old tires for strength training, Hayes laughed and said: "I've always said ‘winners keep trying and losers find excuses' and we never made excuses."
■ John Dell can be reached at 727-4081 or jdell@wsjournal.com.
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