Hall of Fame Track and Field Coach Roger Haynes Named Monmouth College Full-Time Director of Athletics, Recreation and Fitness

Brian Woodard named Director of Running Programs

MONMOUTH, ILL. (05/17/2022) Monmouth College track and field coach Roger Haynes, an Illinois Track and Cross Country Coaches Association Hall of Famer and one of the most successful coaches in NCAA DIII athletics, will become the College’s full-time director of athletics, recreation, and fitness on July 1.

Haynes, who was named Midwest Conference Track and Field Coach of the year for the 53rd time on Saturday following a conference championship by the Fighting Scots’ women’s team, has been head coach of Monmouth’s the men’s track and field program for 38 seasons and head coach of the women’s program for 22 seasons.

Haynes has also overseen the College’s strong athletics program for the last 14 years. A member of the NCAA Division III, Monmouth’s 20 intercollegiate varsity teams and 420 student-athletes compete in the Midwest Conference, St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, Midwest Lacrosse Conference and the Midwest Women’s Lacrosse Conference.

In 2007, Haynes was named the U.S. Track and Field Coaches Association Men’s Indoor National Coach of the Year, and he was named the Midwest Region Coach of the Year four times, most recently in 2016.

Brian Woodard, a 1997 Monmouth alumnus, who has been an assistant coach and strength and conditioning coach for the last 24 seasons, will succeed Haynes as director of running programs and will have overall coaching supervision of track and field.

“You don’t accomplish anything without a number of great people around you and a lot of strong assistant coaches over the years,” said Haynes. “Brian has been very successful and experienced with us and it was a very easy choice to make him the next head coach.”

During his Monmouth tenure, Woodard has coached 28 All-Americans and six current conference record-holders. He was named National Indoor Track and Field Women’s Assistant Coach in 2013 and has twice been named to the same honor in the Midwest Region of U.S. Track and Field.

“The baton is being passed from one strong and proven set of hands to another,” said Monmouth President Clarence Wyatt.

A 1982 Monmouth graduate, Haynes also coached the Fighting Scots’ cross country teams from 2000-14, winning two women’s MWC titles and one men’s title. Haynes was also an assistant football coach under Kelly Kane and helped the women’s track team to eight conference titles as an assistant before taking over as head coach.

In track and field, the Fighting Scots have finished in the top four of the NCAA four times with a high of second place at the 2008 men’s indoor championships. He oversaw 23 teams that finished in the top 20 nationally, while coaching 12 individual national champions and more than 200 All-Americans. The Scots have had at least one All-American every season since 1985, Haynes’ second season in charge of the men’s team.
“It was a great pleasure to coach so many talented and motivated student-athletes over the years,” said Haynes. “It is because of them that we’ve enjoyed all the success we’ve had.”

His teams have won either an indoor or outdoor men’s or women’s Midwest Conference championship – some years more than one – each year since 2001. Haynes has won a combined 83 men’s and women’s indoor and outdoor track and field conference championships.

“Pick your legendary coach – Pat Summitt, Geno Auriemma, Tara VanDerveer, Vince Lombardi, Gregg Popovich- that’s Roger Haynes in NCAA Division III track and field,” said Wyatt.