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Darrell Hazell (official thread)

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Darrell Hazell cultivates football at Kent State -- Terry Pluto
Published: Thursday, October 18, 2012
By Terry Pluto, The Plain Dealer

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Paul Tople, Akron Beacon Journa
lGolden Flashes football coach Darrell Hazell has led his team to a 5-1 record this season.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Five minutes into his interview with Darrell Hazell, Kent State Athletic Director Joel Nielsen was pretty sure he had found the man who should be the Flashes' next football coach.

Hazell was confident, prepared, excited about the job "but has this inner calm about him that I really liked," Nielsen said.

But there was one concern: Hazell had never been a head coach.

Yes, he had 26 years of college coaching experience, everywhere from Oberlin to Ohio, from West Point to Ohio State. But the Mid-American Conference has often been haunted by the hiring of assistant coaches from big-time programs who lacked the experience to be a head coach at the midmajor level.

Nielsen talked to Jim Tressel about Hazell, who was an assistant head coach and wide receivers coach for the Buckeyes from 2005 to '10.

"Coach Tressel told me that Darrell was ready," Nielsen said. "And he said that, not to worry, Darrell would be tough enough for the job. He said Darrell is one of the most mentally tough coaches that he'd ever worked with."

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http://www.cleveland.com/pluto/blog/index.ssf/2012/10/darrell_hazell_cultivates_foot.html
 
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7-1 with an upset of Rutgers today.

Six game winning streak is the longest at Kent St since 1940. The win over previously unbeaten Rutgers was Kent St's first win ever over a ranked team (0-22 coming in) since they starting playing football in 1920.
 
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Marla Ridenour: Hazell putting KSU back on college football map
By Marla Ridenour
Beacon Journal sports columnist
Published: October 29, 2012

KENT: When arguably the greatest victory in Kent State football history was over and No. 18 Rutgers had been knocked from the ranks of the unbeaten on its Homecoming, coach Darrell Hazell and his team walked to the stands to sing the fight song with KSU fans.

Hazell had been part of a similar scene many times before during his seven years as an assistant at Ohio State. Only about 150 Kent State followers made the trip to Piscataway, N.J., nowhere near the crowd that stays for OSU?s Carmen Ohio tradition.

But Hazell noticed something at Rutgers he might not have seen every glorious Saturday in the Horseshoe. As he and the Golden Flashes sang, some of the fans had tears in their eyes.

Die-hard followers of Kent State might insist there were bigger triumphs in the era of coach Don James, perhaps citing a 20-14 victory at Syracuse in 1974. But years of heartache and mediocrity followed James? four-year tenure, which included Kent State?s last appearance in a bowl game, a 21-18 loss to Tampa in the 1972 Tangerine Bowl.

In the 37 years since James departed for Washington after the 1974 season, Kent State has won more games than it lost in a season only four times.

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http://www.ohio.com/news/top-storie...ing-ksu-back-on-college-football-map-1.346081
 
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redguard117;2236883; said:
Would love to see him back in S&G after the reign of Urbz has passed.
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Kent State (or any MAC school) is just a stepping stone for an up and coming head coach. I have no doubt that he'll already be a head coach at a BCS school by the time the Ohio State jobs becomes vacant again; (i.e. hopefully Urban stays a very long time, etc.) Hazell could easily have a contract and/or be in a very nice situation where he would have to pass on Ohio State (even if Ohio State offered).

:wink2:
 
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ScriptOhio;2246454; said:
Hazell could easily have a contract and/or be in a very nice situation where he would have to pass on Ohio State (even if Ohio State offered).
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I would not be surprised if any future contract he has contains an out-clause for the Ohio State position...
 
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MililaniBuckeye;2246455; said:
I would not be surprised if any future contract he has contains an out-clause for the Ohio State position...
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I would love for that to be the case. He was at OSU long enough that he could have developed an attachment to the place, and he probably already realized OSU is one of the few destination jobs out there.

It'll be interesting to see where he goes from KSU. I can't remember the source, but someone with good info in the coaching profession had mentioned that Hazell was as good of a teacher as any coach out there.
 
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People speak of O'Brien or Meyer as National Coach of the year, but I really think Hazell has to be in the discussion.

A win in their next game against Akron, who is awful, and they will win 8 games for the first time since 1976.

It's going to be tough as they finish with Miami, Ohio, and Bowling Green, so a lot is yet to be determined. But at this point, to turn a program around which has been awful for so long is a huge accomplishment.
 
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Buckeye737 said:
I can't remember the source, but someone with good info in the coaching profession had mentioned that Hazell was as good of a teacher as any coach out there.
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NFL Receiver Brian Hartline sings his praises-

Brian Hartline ‏@brianhartline
"@11W: Happy to see Darrell Hazell and his Kent State Golden Flashes leading #15 Rutgers 21-10 at halftime." Best coach I've ever had!
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