WSSU veteran to lead athletics program

'I'm extremely excited' to be returning, says Bill Hayes, who was the Rams' football coach for 12 years

By: By John Dell | JOURNAL REPORTER
Published: October 30, 2009

Bill Hayes is coming home to Winston-Salem State, this time to be the university's director of athletics.

Chancellor Donald Reaves announced the hiring yesterday in a meeting with the executive committee of the university's board of trustees and later shared the news with WSSU's coaches.

Hayes, 64 and currently the director of athletics at Florida A&M, will begin work Jan 1. He replaces Chico Caldwell, who Reaves fired in February.

"It's been a long process," Reaves said after the meeting. "While I've had a great leadership with Tonia (Walker, the interim athletics director) at the helm the last 10 months, it's time to get a permanent person in place. And I can't think of anybody in the history of this university better than Bill Hayes. He's been here as a great football coach, and he had extensive administration experience at other schools.

"And he knows people here, and I think his biggest contribution is his role in the community."

Hayes takes over the athletics program at a critical time for the school. Last month, it abandoned an expensive move to Division I to return to the CIAA and its Division II athletics. That decision is still being loudly debated by a divided student body and alumni.

Hayes, speaking by phone from his office in Tallahassee, Fla., said: "I'm extremely excited. It will be very challenging, but I've never been afraid of a challenge."

Football player Omar Kizzie was excited about the announcement, jumping about two feet off the ground and shouting when told of Hayes' hiring.

"That's great news," Kizzie said.

Hayes first came to Winston-Salem in the early 1970s, working under Coach Chuck Mills at Wake Forest as one of the first black assistant football coaches in the ACC.

Hayes became the football coach at WSSU in 1976 and turned a doormat program into one of the most dominant in CIAA history. He coached the Rams for 12 seasons, compiling a record of 89-40-2, and they finished at .500 or better 10 times.

Hayes said that the thing he remembers most about his time at WSSU is the togetherness of the university community.

"When we first started out, we had nothing," Hayes said of building the football program. "But what we did have was togetherness and the will to get things done. I just remember that everybody in the community was so close, and we have to get that going again."

Hayes had two of the best teams in CIAA history in 1977 and '78. The Rams, quarterbacked by current head coach Kermit Blount, finished unbeaten in the regular season twice and ended each season with an 11-1 record.

Hayes left WSSU for N.C. A&T in 1987, and in 15 seasons there became that program's career leader in victories. He was forced out at A&T after the 2002 season and moved into athletics administration, first at his alma mater, N.C. Central, and for the last two years at Florida A&M. He announced his resignation at Florida A&M, effective Dec. 31, last month.

Hayes will work under a three-year contract for about $130,000 a year, Reaves said. Under state law, Hayes will have to give up his retirement payments from the state of North Carolina before he can start being paid by WSSU. Even though Hayes left Winston-Salem years ago, he and his wife, Carolyn, still own a house here.

"We don't have to pay moving expenses," Reaves joked. "We just feel this is going to be a great thing for our alumni and our fan base. I'm very excited about this move."

Earl "The Pearl" Monroe, a former basketball star at WSSU and in the NBA and one of WSSU's most recognizable alumni, is in town this week for homecoming. He says that the move to hire Hayes is a good one.

"I do know that Coach Hayes has that ability to raise funds, and that's what you need," said Monroe, who played on WSSU's Division II national-championship team in 1967. "There was all that talk about trying to raise money for the Division I thing, but you still need to raise money, and that's part of bringing the alums together."

Bobby Collins, the men's basketball coach, said he hopes that the hiring of Hayes will bridge the gap between divided alumni and fans.

"I hope it does," he said, "and I've heard the reputation he has for raising money and the reputation he has with the community, and that's sorely needed. I think he will be a big plus as far as those things are concerned."

jdell@wsjournal.com

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