Paul Jeffrey Haynes III (born July 11, 1969) is an American college football coach and former player. He is the current cornerbacks coach for the

Wisconsin Badgers The Wisconsin Badgers are the athletic teams representing the University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin). They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level ( Football Bowl Subdivis ...

football team and the former head football coach at

Kent State University Kent State University (KSU) is a public research university in Kent, Ohio. The university also includes seven regional campuses in Northeast Ohio and additional facilities in the region and internationally. Regional campuses are located in ...

, a position he held for five seasons. Haynes previously served as an assistant coach at the high school, collegiate and professional levels for 20 years, including stints as defensive coordinator at

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

and the

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and the largest university in the state. Founded as Arkansas ...

. Prior to his coaching career, he was a four-year letterman as a defensive back at Kent State between 1987 and 1991.

Early life and education

Born in Columbus, Ohio, Haynes graduated from St. Francis DeSales High School and lettered in football, basketball, and track while in high school. Graduating in 1987, Haynes enrolled at

that year and walked on to the

Kent State Golden Flashes football Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

team as a defensive back and led the team in interceptions in his freshman season, in which Kent State finished 7–4 (5–3 and second place in the MAC). Missing the 1989 season with a knee injury, Haynes earned letters for the 1988, 1990, and 1991 seasons and ended his collegiate career with 440 career tackles and second-team All-MAC honors in his junior and senior seasons. Haynes completed his bachelor's degree in criminal justice at Kent State in 1992.

Coaching career

In 1993, Haynes returned to St. Francis DeSales High School as secondary coach. The next year, he began graduate studies in counseling at

Bowling Green State University Bowling Green State University (BGSU) is a public research university in Bowling Green, Ohio. The main academic and residential campus is south of Toledo, Ohio. The university has nationally recognized programs and research facilities in the ...

and served as a graduate assistant on the

Bowling Green Falcons football The Bowling Green Falcons football program is the intercollegiate football team of Bowling Green State University. The team is a member of the NCAA, playing at the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, formerly Division I-A, level; BGSU footba ...

team for the 1994 season. From 1995 to 1996, Haynes was defensive backs and special teams coach at Division II Ferris State. He moved up to the Division I-AA level at Northern Iowa in 1997 again as a defensive backs coach. In 1999, Haynes returned to Kent State to join Dean Pees's staff as defensive backs coach; Haynes coached the safeties and moved up to assistant head coach the following season. Haynes got his first NFL job in 2001 as defensive quality control coach for the

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. The team pla ...

under

Tom Coughlin Thomas Richard Coughlin ( ; born August 31, 1946) is a former American football coach and executive. He was the head coach for the New York Giants from 2004 to 2015. He led the Giants to victory in Super Bowl XLII and Super Bowl XLVI, both time ...

before returning to the college level in 2002 as defensive backs coach at

Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

under John L. Smith. When Smith became head coach at

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...

in 2003, Haynes moved there and again served as defensive backs coach. From 2005 to 2011, Haynes was defensive backs coach at

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

under Jim Tressel (2005 to 2010) and

Luke Fickell Luke Joseph Fickell (born August 18, 1973) is an American football coach and former player. He will be the head coach for the Wisconsin Badgers starting in December 2022. Previously he was the head football coach at the University of Cincinnati, ...

(2011); Haynes also was co-defensive coordinator in 2011. During this period, Ohio State finished in the year-end top ten of the

AP Poll The Associated Press poll (AP poll) provides weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling 62 sportswriters and broad ...

every season from 2005 and 2010 and were runners-up in the

BCS National Championship Game The BCS National Championship Game, or BCS National Championship, was a postseason college football bowl game, used to determine a national champion of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), first played in the 1998 college fo ...

after the 2006 and 2007 seasons. On December 18, 2012, Kent State hired Haynes as its 21st head football coach. Haynes was fired after the 2017 season, finishing his tenure with a record of 14–45 overall, 9–30 in conference play. Shortly following his tenure with Kent State, Haynes was hired as defensive backs coach at

. In February 2020, he was hired as cornerbacks coach at the

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

Head coaching record

References

External links

Minnesota profile

Kent State profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Haynes, Paul 1969 births Living people American football defensive backs Arkansas Razorbacks football coaches Ferris State Bulldogs football coaches Jacksonville Jaguars coaches Kent State Golden Flashes football coaches Kent State Golden Flashes football players Louisville Cardinals football coaches Michigan State Spartans football coaches Minnesota Golden Gophers football coaches Northern Iowa Panthers football coaches Ohio State Buckeyes football coaches High school football coaches in Ohio Coaches of American football from Ohio Players of American football from Columbus, Ohio African-American coaches of American football African-American players of American football 20th-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American people