Darrell Hazell (official thread)

[BuckTwenty]

Hazell's helped to continue the great tradition of elite Buckeye WRs making it big in the League. The wrinkles you've added to this team, your recruiting prowess, and your personality will be missed, Coach.

That said, I'm a little bit worried about who he might be taking with him to Kent State. There won't be many tears around here if he were to bring Bollman with him, but some other names could potentially lead to some recruiting defections.

 

[scarletngray]

Hazell's helped to continue the great tradition of elite Buckeye WRs making it big in the League. The wrinkles you've added to this team, your recruiting prowess, and your personality will be missed, Coach.

That said, I'm a little bit worried about who he might be taking with him to Kent State. There won't be many tears around here if he were to bring Bollman with him, but some other names could potentially lead to some recruiting defections.

You obviously don't have a clue as to how much our OL love Coach Bollman and how guys like the Brew Crew point to him as one of the main reasons they came to tOSU. The Bollman bashing gets old...

:osu:

 

[BuckTwenty]

You obviously don't have a clue as to how much our OL love Coach Bollman and how guys like the Brew Crew point to him as one of the main reasons they came to tOSU. The Bollman bashing gets old...

:osu:

I've got a clue. I wasn't born yesterday. And I'm not a basher of Bolls. I just simply pointed out that many on here won't miss him if he were to leave for Kent with Hazell.

 

[jlb1705]

Hazell's helped to continue the great tradition of elite Buckeye WRs making it big in the League. The wrinkles you've added to this team, your recruiting prowess, and your personality will be missed, Coach.

That said, I'm a little bit worried about who he might be taking with him to Kent State. There won't be many tears around here if he were to bring Bollman with him, but some other names could potentially lead to some recruiting defections.

Yeah, I'm sure Jim Bollman can't wait to leave his coordinator position at Ohio State to take a similar position at Kent State.

 

[stowfan]

All in all, Kent State is not a bad gig. A few facts and figures, Kent is the 2nd largest university in Ohio. Located in a "small" town, the campus is very nice. There is a real college feel, it's not like recruiting kids to Cleveland State.

Kent does very well in almost every other sport. The basketball team has made the NCAA several times. The golf team is the best in Ohio.

Kent has a nice stadium (27,000) and a new field house. As mentioned before, Kent is in the center of a hot bed of high school football. Every year, Kent alums show up in the Pro Bowl. Despite the above, Kent's football program struggles to play 500 football in the MAC.

Finally, drum roll please, there is 36 ton of eye candy on that campus. Just to name a few, Kent has a Fashion Design and Retail program, Teachers College, and a huge Nursing School. I don't want to represent the place as; the streets are lined with mattresses, but it's close.

Good luck coach Hazell

Edit: A couple of thoughts just entered my little mind, which I know is a I know is a scary thing. One, every year, Glenville turns our a ton of D-1 talent, Hazell should do well there. Two, if Hazell turns Kent around, they make a better choice for Big East expansion than say, TCU.

 

[Buckskin86]

Posted on Tue, Dec. 21, 2010
Cinnaminson grad fulfills dream with Kent State job
By Marc Narducci
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

Since graduating from Cinnaminson in 1982, Darrell Hazell has always had the goal of one day becoming a head college football coach.

Through many stops over the past quarter of a century, Hazell has fulfilled his goal after being named the new head football coach at Kent State earlier this week.

Hazell became the first minority coach in the 90-year history of the program. He replaced Doug Martin, who resigned last month.

The 46-year-old Hazell spent the last seven seasons as an assistant at Ohio State. Most recently he was the Buckeyes' assistant head coach and also coached the wide receivers.

He was also an assistant coach at Rutgers, West Virginia, Army, Penn, Oberlin College (serving two different stints) and Eastern Illinois.

During his long career, Hazell has coached running backs, receivers, tight ends and also served as offensive coordinator at Oberlin College from 1989-91.

Despite moving up the ladder, he has never forgotten his roots.

"I had a great time attending Cinnaminson," Hazell said in a phone conversation on Tuesday. "What was great was how close everybody was."

Hazell, who also ran track at Cinnaminson, attended Division III Muskingum College in New Concord, Ohio, where he was a three-time, all-conference performer and earned all-America honors as a senior.

Right after college he began his long journey as an assistant coach.

"I learned something at every place I coached," he said.

Hazell will be doing double-duty for the next few weeks. Ohio State is playing Arkansas in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 4 in New Orleans. Even though he has his new job, Hazell said he didn't want to leave Ohio State until the season was complete.

"I love my players at Ohio State," he said. "I want to see it right though."

Cont...

Read more: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/brea..._dream_with_Kent_State_job.html#ixzz18oIEDLRq

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_JbQmzWIAg"]YouTube - Meet Darrell Hazell, Kent State's New Head Football Coach[/ame]

 

[Rookie]

I hate to see him go, but wish him the best along the way.

Good luck Coach!

 

[OhioSt88]

Hazell Replacement

I hope Coach Tressel brings in a young innovative offensive coach. Someone on the staff that thinks a little more aggressively would be great. There are a lot of good offensive minds in the lower divisions. Gary Krol is an Offensive Coordinator at West Liberty (Div 2 in West Virginia). His teams have led the nation in total offense and scoring in each of the last two years. West Liberty has done it with passing and rushing, putting up video game type stats. Someone like Krol could add to an already great staff.

 

[Buckskin86]

Marla Ridenour: New KSU coach can change the mentality
Former players think he is right man for Golden Flashes
By Marla Ridenour
Beacon Journal sports writer
Jan 15, 2011

If there was any doubt that Darrell Hazell was the right man for the job as Kent State's 20th football coach, consider this endorsement from Ted Ginn Jr.

''I think this is going to be a stepping stone,'' Ginn said by phone last week. ''One day when Coach Tress is done, that should be the next guy in line.''

Now a receiver for the San Francisco 49ers, Ginn wasn't trying to rush Ohio State coach Jim Tressel out the door. That's just how much Ginn thinks of Hazell, 46, OSU's assistant head coach and receivers coach for the past seven years who was introduced as Doug Martin's successor Dec. 20.

And Ginn is not alone.

''He's not the first person to say that,'' former OSU receiver Anthony Gonzalez, now with the Indianapolis Colts, said of Ginn's prediction. ''[Hazell] is first class all the way. An unbelievable coach and an even better guy.''

Ginn and Gonzalez are two of five former receivers Hazell coached at Ohio State who are playing in the NFL, along with Santonio Holmes, Brian Hartline and Brian Robiskie. Charged with delivering Kent State its first winning season since 2001 and third above .500 since 1978, Hazell intends to use those connections.

Talking to the five almost every other week, Hazell said Ginn and Gonzalez have expressed interest in working out in the offseason at Kent State. A Glenville High School product, Ginn lives in the Cleveland area, as do Gonzalez's parents.

''Any opportunity to be around him,'' Ginn said. ''Coach Hazell is one of those guys who was like my everything. When I got to Ohio State, he took me under his wing and made me more like a son to him than a player.

''I came in as a defensive back and they converted me to wideout three weeks before the season started. He used to tell me all the time, 'We're going to take it slow. You're going to make it.' I love his little son Kyle, I'm always asking about him. Kent got one of the best ever.''

A St. Ignatius graduate, Gonzalez said when he comes home ''it's always nice to have a college facility'' to work out in. But he wants to see Hazell for more reasons than that.

''He and I developed a great relationship over the years. I really appreciate all he did for me and my development as a player and just who he is as a person,'' Gonzalez said.

''He also taught me the technique required to be a successful receiver. He knows everything and gets the finer points across. I've been in the NFL four years and there's nothing I've been taught that he didn't already teach me. It's all reinforcing the fundamentals that Coach Hazell taught me.''

Hearing that, you can see why the Jacksonville Jaguars tried to lure Hazell away from Ohio State two years ago to be receivers coach.

''It just happened too fast,'' Hazell said. ''I didn't feel like I had enough time to make a good decision, that's why I stepped away from it.''

Cont...

http://www.ohio.com/sports/kent_state/113826154.html

 

[osugrad21]

''He also taught me the technique required to be a successful receiver. He knows everything and gets the finer points across. I've been in the NFL four years and there's nothing I've been taught that he didn't already teach me. It's all reinforcing the fundamentals that Coach Hazell taught me.''

In coaching, there is no better compliment than that.

 

[Buckskin86]

Opportunity has arrived
Golden Flashes coach Hazell seizes moment to be in charge
By Stephanie Storm
Beacon Journal sports writer
Published on Sunday, Jan 30, 2011

KENT: Kent State coach Darrell Hazell had no interest in becoming a football coach as he prepared to graduate from Muskingum College in the late 1980s after a decorated career as a receiver.

''I never wanted to coach after coaching a powder-puff game in high school,'' Hazell said. ''Powder-puff football is when the guys dress up like cheerleaders and the girls play the game. Well, I coached the girls, and after that, I said, 'I'll never coach a day in my life.' ''

That all changed during the spring of his senior season at Muskingum.

Hazell was taken aside by coach Jeff Heacock and asked what he wanted to do with his life. Heacock went on to tell Hazell about an opening for a running backs coach at Oberlin.

Hazell, a team captain and an All-America player, told his coach that he had a couple of job offers in the business world in which he would better use his degree in communications and business.

''So I told him, 'No thanks, I'm not interested.' ''

Heacock wasn't going to give up on Hazell that easy.

''We had a two-hour lunch, and [Heacock] talked me into it,'' Hazell said. ''I figured it was something I could try.''

His coaching career began in the fall at Oberlin, where Hazell quickly understood he was on the right career path.

''I realized I could have an impact on young people,'' he said. ''I really enjoyed doing it. [Heacock] doesn't know this, but he was the one person who had the biggest impact in my life outside of my mother.''

Cont...

http://www.ohio.com/sports/kent_state/114889554.html

 

[korchiki]

I was looking at his commits and he has been on fire since he arrived. He is putting together a very nice class for only being there a few weeks. His relationships in the state of Ohio and PA will be the difference.

 

[stowfan]

An update on Coach Hazel at Kent State.

http://www.ohio.com/sports/kent_state/119046404.html

 

[Buckskin86]

New Kent State football coach Darrell Hazell working to add long-lost shine to the Golden Flashes
Published: Saturday, May 14, 2011
By Bill Lubinger, The Plain Dealer

Lonnie Timmons III / The Plain Dealer
New Kent State coach Darrell Hazell has an express purpose for that yellow KSU helmet that is displayed in the Golden Flashes' football offices. "That's our bowl helmet this year," he says, trying to turn around the fortunes of a program that has seldom needed to worry about bowl gear.

KENT, Ohio -- Aside from a go-cart he patched together as a kid, Darrell Hazell hadn't built anything in his life.

But the summer before last, his son wanted a tree house, so Hazell dug in and got to work. There were no directions. All he had was a hammer and nails, a hand saw, an old circular saw and the self-induced pressure of not wanting the project to linger all summer.

He talked a forklift operator into loading the frame into his tree, then he and a neighbor finished the shingles in a thunderstorm.

The tree house was done in 16 days.

Now he's faced with another construction project -- again with no owner's manual, no lessons learned from having done it. In December, Hazell, 47, became head football coach at Kent State after nine stops as an assistant, most recently molding Ohio State's top pass-catchers into NFL wide receivers.

He left a program where four-loss seasons are volcanic to coach a program that hasn't won a conference title or played a bowl game in almost 40 years. There's much work to be done.

Like the tree house, he couldn't wait to get started.

Cont..

http://www.cleveland.com/sports/college/index.ssf/2011/05/new_kent_state_football_coach.html

What they say about Darrell Hazell
Published: Saturday, May 14, 2011
By Bill Lubinger, The Plain Dealer

Joshua Gunter / The Plain Dealer
"He looks at the player first, then figures out how to coach that player," former OSU receiver Ted Ginn says of Darrell Hazell. "Not every player learns the same way."

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Comments about the new Kent State head football coach, from those who know him well:

Jeff Heacock, his football coach at Muskingum, where Hazell became an All-American: "He was a good athlete, but he made himself better."

Former Oberlin head football coach Don Huntsinger, who gave Hazell his first coaching job, met over lunch at a Rax in Cambridge, Ohio, and knew right away: "From the moment I met him -- he was mature beyond his years."

Ohio State defensive coordinator Jim Heacock: "He was a great recruiter when he was here. He brought in a lot of good players."

Rick Masi, an accounting teacher and coach at Cinnaminson (N.J.) High School: "Not a big kid, 150, 160 pounds at the most, but absolutely fearless. He'd run through a brick wall."

Masi: "He just had such an infectious smile no matter what was going on on the field, in the classroom. It looked like everything he did was fun for him."

Ohio State head coach Jim Tressel: "Darrell, number one, cares about kids. He does a fabulous job creating relationships. Those kids know he cares about more than just the way they play football. He'll bring great energy to Kent."

Cont...

http://www.cleveland.com/sports/college/index.ssf/2011/05/what_they_say_about_darrell_ha.html

 

[MililaniBuckeye]

"Most like Tressel of all the assistants" = Tressel's replacement. I can see Fickell also being considered, but after the 2014 season when Tressel retires, I see Hazell becoming our head coach and Fickell the assistant head coach.

I wonder if Hazell is kicking himself for taking the KSU job...