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Mustang family mourns loss of coach and "great friend"
By Heather Travis
Monday, September 27, 2010 Long-time Western Mustangs men's and women's basketball coach and football coach Doug Hayes died Saturday at the age of 68.
Hayes was hired in 1969 as a lecturer in the Department of Physical Education at Western and was professor emeritus in the School of Kinesiology.
He played an instrumental role in recruiting Kinesiology professor Bert Carron to the faculty. The pair was childhood friends, both growing up in Edmonton and later studying at the University of Alberta together.
“I’ve known him since 1960,” says Carron. “He never left a friend behind … I’m one of those (friends).
“I thought he was an outstanding teaching and coach. It didn’t matter whether he won or lost, his personality didn’t change. He was really good at keeping things in perspective.”
Hayes coached football and men's and women's basketball during his time at Western. He coached six Ontario Championship teams, eight League Champions and assisted in one CIAU Championship team. He was named OUAA Coach of the Year in 1976.
He was also coach of the men's provincial basketball team that won a silver medal at the Canada Games in 1993.
“A measure of the kind of coach he was, he has had all his life former athletes coming to visit him and (wife) Lauretta at his house. They truly loved the guy,” Carron says.
As an administrator at Western, Hayes was men's athletic co-ordinator (1988-1997) and acting chairman, Intercollegiate Athletics (1995-96)
Brad Campbell, head coach of the Mustangs men’s basketball team, remembers Hayes regularly dropping by his office to talk about the game.
“He would never really impose his opinions or what we should be doing. He just wanted to talk about the game and see how I was doing personally,” Campbell says.
Hayes often put others before himself, notes Campbell, making him a great role model and mentor for coaching staff and players.
“Doug was just a caring individual,” Campbell says. “The biggest impact that Doug really had was his connection and relationship with his players, not only at the time he was coaching, but well after a lot of those players’ careers were done.
“He was such a magnetic person, had such a magnetic personality. It’s a very difficult time, not only for his family, but also his Mustang family as well.”
“He was an outstanding communicator and incredibly effective motivator in terms of dealing with his athletes and in relating to his colleagues involved with coaching,” says Former Mustang football head coach Darwin Semotiuk.
Semotiuk, who coached football with Hayes and is a professor in the School of Kinesiology, describes him as a soft-spoken and quiet, but also someone with a great sense of humour.
Though it’s not typical for a coach to successfully lead two teams in sports as diverse from each other as football and basketball, Hayes was able to relate to athletes in both areas and secure championships, he adds.
Overall, he was a great teacher and “incredibly highly respected by his colleagues and his athletes and fellow coaches,” Semotiuk says. “He was a great friend.”
He is survived by his loving wife Lauretta and their three children.
Funeral arrangements are being made and will be posted at www.westernmustangs.ca as soon as they are available.
