Mike Haywood Introduced at Tuesday Press Conference
12/30/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football
Dec. 30, 2008
WEST CHESTER, Ohio -- Mike Haywood, Miami University's New Head Football Coach, was introduced to the media and fans Tuesday afternoon in a press conference at the Miami University Voice of America Learning Center. More than 200 fans, student-athletes and Miami University employees attended the event.
Haywood, 44, was hired last Tuesday, but remained in his position as offensive coordinator at Notre Dame through the Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl Christmas eve. Since then, he has hit the ground running, speaking with members of the football team, potential recruits and assistant coach candidates.
Haywood has been associated with three Top Ten teams and six other Top 25 clubs. His mentors have included former Coaches of the Year Nick Saban, Mack Brown, Charlie Weis and Lou Holtz.
Through Haywood's four seasons as the offensive coordinator and running backs coach at Notre Dame (2005-08), the Fighting Irish have averaged nearly 27 points per game. He took over the majority of Notre Dame's offensive play calling in 2008 and the result was an additional 103 yards per game over the previous season.
Haywood has coached running backs since 1994 at four different schools and tutored rushers that received All-America and all-conference accolades. He helped develop the talent in players that etched their name in their respective school's records book and produced future National Football League players in Darius Walker, Cedric Benson, LaBrandon Toefield, Domanick Davis, Kevin Faulk, Rondell Mealey and Cecil Collins.
A key figure in Notre Dame's offensive explosion in 2005, Haywood was named NCAA Division 1-A Assistant Coach of the Year that season by the American Football Coaches Association. The honor recognized not only Haywood's outstanding coaching credentials, but also his stellar work in the community throughout his coaching career.
Haywood's return to familiar turf in South Bend was the latest stop in a successful career as one of college football's top assistant coaches for the past 22 years.
A four-year football letterman at Notre Dame (1982, 1984-86), Haywood has been a collegiate coach for the past 22 years. He joined Weis's staff following two years at Texas under Brown. Prior to that, he was running backs coach at LSU for coaches Gerry DiNardo and Saban.
Haywood is no stranger to the Mid-American Conference, having served as an assistant coach at Ohio (1991-92) for Tom Lichtenberg and at Ball State (1993-94) for head coach and former Miami player Paul Schudel. He was Coach Jim Young's assistant for two seasons (1989-90) at Army, and began his coaching career at Minnesota (1988) as a graduate assistant for Coach John Gutekunst.
Haywood has coached every position and has coordinated offense, special teams and recruiting. He has recruited the Midwest as well as Florida, Texas, Louisiana, California, Canada, Oklahoma and Arkansas.
Born Michael Anthony Haywood on Feb. 26, 1964, in Houston, Texas, he played flanker during his freshman season at Notre Dame (started five games and caught 13 passes for 128 yards in 1982), then moved to cornerback where he was a significant contributor and starter from 1984-86 (13 career starts, 78 tackles, five interceptions, two blocked kicks). Recruited by Gerry Faust, Notre Dame's coach during Haywood's senior year was Lou Holtz.
Haywood is a 1986 graduate of Notre Dame with a bachelor's degree from the College of Arts and Letters.
