A former football head coach at Winston-Salem State University, Bill Hayes, has been given an honorary doctorate from the institution.
According to HBCU Gameday, the ceremony occurred on May 9 at WSSU’s spring commencement. Hayes enjoyed a long career as a football coach, with a winning record of 89-40-2 from 1976 to 1987. He led the Rams to three Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) championships (1977, 1978, 1987) and five CIAA Southern Division titles. The football team had consecutive undefeated regular seasons in 1977 and 1978.
The coach left the school and hooked up with the school’s rival, North Carolina A&T, in 1988. He led the school to three MEAC (Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference) championships and retired from coaching in 2003.
Hayes also made his mark as an athletic administrator. He served as athletic director at North Carolina Central University and Florida A&M University before returning to WSSU in 2010. He became the fifth athletic director at the school and stayed at WSSU until he retired in 2014.
The former coach’s background in football started in high school, where he played for Hillside High School before he took his talent to NCCU, where he played his collegiate career at the center and linebacker positions. While playing there for four years, he earned three All-America recognitions before graduating with a physical education degree in 1965.
His coaching career started after he graduated from college when he became an assistant coach at several high schools: Northside High School in Gretha, Virginia (1965), Paisley High School (1966) and North Forsyth High School (1967-71) in Winston-Salem, N.C., even doing a stint as his alma mater, Hillside High School (1972).
He became a college coach in 1973 as the offensive backs coach at Wake Forest University, making Hayes the first Black coach in the Atlantic Coast Conference. After three years at Wake Forest, he left to start his legendary career at Winston-Salem State University.
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