Connell Maynor of Winston-Salem State has turned down an offer to be the next football coach at N.C. A&T.
Maynor, who led the Rams to an 8-2 record last season, had his first interview with A&T officials last week but wasn't offered the job. That all changed on Friday when Rod Broadway, the coach at Grambling State, turned down an offer from A&T.
Maynor was asked back to campus at A&T on Friday afternoon and was offered the job.
"They offered it to me and, after considering it, I had to say no," said Maynor, 42, who is a 1995 graduate of N.C. A&T, where he was an All-MEAC quarterback. "The timing just wasn't right and in the best interest of myself and my family, I couldn't take the job."
Maynor said he has unfinished business at WSSU, where the Rams failed to win the CIAA championship but were one of the favorites.
"I have a great loyalty to Bill Hayes (the athletics director at WSSU) and we want to go after championships, and we fell short this first year," Maynor said. "It just didn't feel right to leave after one year here."
Maynor said that A&T's contract offer was for five years, but he wouldn't reveal how much per year. Maynor makes $90,000 a year at WSSU and he just finished the first of a five-year contract.
"It was a bump in pay, but it's not always about money," Maynor said of the offer from A&T.
One problem for anybody who takes the A&T job will be a lack of scholarships. The NCAA sanctioned the program because of poor graduation rates. Maynor said A&T will have only 45 scholarships next season, which is far below the minimum of 63 in the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA).
Earl Hilton, the interim athletics director at A&T, didn't return calls to his cell phone and home phone on Friday night. Sources at N.C. A&T confirmed that Maynor was on campus Friday. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak on behalf of the school.
One source said that Maynor and Broadway were the top two targets to replace Alonzo Lee, who was fired after a 1-10 season in which the Aggies lost to rivals N.C. Central and WSSU. George Ragsdale, a longtime assistant, is the interim head coach for the second time in his career.
The Aggies are searching for their sixth coach in the past 10 years and haven't had any stability since Hayes, the winningest coach in A&T history, was forced out after the 2002 season. Since 2003 the Aggies have a combined record of 25-66.
Maynor acknowledged that turning down his alma mater was tough.
"It's where I went to school and played and graduated from," Maynor said, "so naturally I'd be attracted to someday coaching there. But for right now, I'm focused on making this program the best that it can be."
Maynor started his college career as a player at WSSU in 1987 but transferred to A&T after one season when Hayes left WSSU to coach at A&T. Maynor was named to the All-MEAC team while at A&T and is fourth all-time at the school with 4,318 yards passing and 39 touchdowns.
jdell@wsjournal.com
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