Tom Dienhart, BTN.com Senior Writer, December 4, 2012
After failing to land Cincinnati coach Butch Jones, Purdue was able to grab Kent State coach Darrell Hazell.
Hazell went 16-9 in two seasons at Kent State, a notoriously bad MAC program. He went 11-2 this season, including an 8-0 mark in MAC play, on his way to claiming the East Division title and MAC Coach of the Year. The Golden Flashes just missed out on a likely BCS bowl bid when they lost a 44-37 double-overtime thriller to Northern Illinois in the MAC title game.
Kent State is headed to the GoDaddy.com Bowl to play Arkansas State, which just saw head coach Gus Malzahn leave to coach Auburn. It?s Kent State?s first postseason trip since the 1972 Tangerine Bowl.
[RELATED: View our 2012-13 bowl schedule]
Hazell is a native of New Jersey and went to college at Muskingum. Hazell began his coaching career at Oberlin in 1986, and he's spent time at Eastern Illinois, Penn, Western Michigan, Army, West Virginia, Rutgers and Ohio State. The stop in Columbus was his last before taking over Kent State, as Hazell was the Buckeyes? assistant head coach and receivers coach under Jim Tressel.
A big key to Hazell?s success will be dependent on the staff he builds. Will his entire Kent State staff come with him to West Lafayette?
His 2012 offense ranked No. 8 in the MAC (391.2 ypg), with the passing game ranking last (162.9 ypg) and the rushing attack No. 2 (228.3 ypg) en route to ranking No. 3 in scoring (34.6 ppg). The Kent State defense was No. 6 overall in the MAC (418.7 ypg), ranking No. 3 vs. the run (142.2 ypg), No. 11 vs. the pass (276.5 ypg), and No. 3 in scoring defense (25.1 ppg).
Hazell, 48, takes over for Danny Hope, who was fired after four seasons, going 22-27 overall and 13-19 in the Big Ten. He led Purdue to bowls each of the last two years, something the program hadn?t done since 2006-07. But inconsistent play and declining attendance doomed Hope.
[RELATED: Twitter: Boilers react to Hope dismissal]
Hazell will be Purdue?s first minority coach in football or men?s basketball, as he takes over a program that?s headed to play Oklahoma State in the Heart of Dallas Bowl after a 6-6 season. Hazell also would be the fourth minority coach in Big Ten history, joining Dennis Green and Francis Peay at Northwestern and Bobby Williams at Michigan State.
Kent State has a history for producing coaches. Don James was a standout coach for the Golden Flashes before going to Washington. Nick Saban, Gary Pinkel and Lou Holtz all played at Kent State.
Four current Big Ten coaches were head coaches in the MAC: Ohio State?s Urban Meyer (Bowling Green); Minnesota?s Jerry Kill (Northern Illinois); Illinois? Tim Beckman (Toledo); Michigan?s Brady Hoke (Ball State).
| About Tom Dienhart | BTN.com senior writer Tom Dienhart is a veteran sports journalist who covers Big Ten football and men's basketball for BTN.com and BTN TV. Find him on Twitter and Facebook, read all of his work at btn.com/tomdienhart, and subscribe to his posts via RSS. Also, send questions to his weekly mailbag using the form below and read all of his previous answers in his reader mailbag section. |
And if you want to leave a comment on this post, use the box below. All comments need to be approved by a moderator.
