Hayes leaves Hofstra with strong legacy

With 21 conference titles and 35 postseason appearances in his eight-year tenure at Hofstra, athletic director Jack Hayes said he had ample opportunities to take a similar job elsewhere, but none of those positions interested him until Brown University's opening materialized.

"I was very happy at Hofstra," he said, "but just taking an opportunity that made sense personally and professionally, that was the reason. There are no issues at Hofstra that led me to leave."

Hayes, a native of Providence, R.I., was announced as Brown's AD on Thursday.

Hayes navigated Hofstra through two difficult situations. He took plenty of heat when the university decided to drop football after the 2009 season.

"If that blame fell on me by some people, I didn't let it bother me," Hayes said. "I knew that at the end of the day, there were 17 programs that we need to make sure were as strong as possible. It wasn't that we did not care what former football players and alumni thought. I certainly cared and I understood. At the same time, we had to move the program forward. The largest [financial] gifts in the history of Hofstra athletics have come in the last two years, so the idea that you could not generate interest and support for athletics because the football program had been eliminated was purely emotional."

Hayes, 44, also had to preside over the issue involving the men's basketball program in May 2010 when newly hired Tim Welsh resigned after being charged with drunk driving. "It was an unfortunate situation," Hayes said. "It was five or six months after the football situation. Two challenging situations in a relatively short period of time."

The basketball program lost two key players after that when Chaz Williams and Halil Kanacevic transferred. "I don't think that anybody has not come to Hofstra because of instability," Hayes said. "The nature of the business is there's going to be individuals that transfer when there is a coaching change."

Hayes pointed to two significant transfers eligible to play next season, Jamal Coombs-McDaniel of Connecticut and Taran Buie of Penn State. "Once those two individuals can play from Day 1, I think the last thing Hofstra will be thinking about is taking a step back," he said. "It won't happen."

Hofstra, in a statement released Thursday regarding Hayes, said, "In the past eight years, Jack has contributed significantly to the Hofstra Pride's success in the CAA, including 21 conference titles and 35 postseason appearances. We wish him well as he returns to his home town for his new role."

Danny McCabe, 43, Hayes' assistant since 2005, was named athletic director on an interim basis and is considered a candidate to retain the job. He said, "I appreciate that the university has put trust in me to continue to work with the campus administrators, as I've done for the past 71/2 years, and to move the program forward in the interim time period."