MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (HUBBARD) -- Sports figures often seem to come and go quickly, but a Middle Tennessee State coach - with an impressive Olympic resume - has stood the test of time.
MTSU Track and Field Coach Dean Hayes has a list of stateside accomplishments too long to recount.
Hayes has also coached a number of international competitions. He was an assistant coach for the U.S. Olympic Team in 1988 at the Seoul games.
Now in his 48th year at MTSU, Hayes has sent about a dozen athletes to the Olympics, but says the students he’s most proud of are those that excelled in other arenas.
“I guess some of the ones who struggled more academically but were able to be successful, get a degree, or make something out of themselves, and not necessarily great athletically, really the things that I think of more.”
Of course, Hayes does remember each Olympian he’s coached over the years, beginning with Tommy Haynes and Rayfield Dupree in 1976 and extending to Noah Akwu and Stanley Gbagbeke in 2012.
EDITOR'S NOTE: WMOT News thanks reporter Alex Hubbard, News Editor at our news partner Sidelines, for researching and writing this series.