Saturday, May 3, 2014

New Hampton Pirates football coach Maynor a man of faith and confidence

HAMPTON, Virginia  -- Bill Hayes knew what he was getting when he chose Connell Maynor to shepherd Winston-Salem State University's troubled, transition football program.

Hayes recruited Maynor as a teenager, coaching him first at WSSU and then at North Carolina A&T. He knew the young man's ability and followed his playing and coaching career. He believed that Maynor possessed qualities capable of not just leading a team, but influencing an entire athletic department.



When Hayes accompanied his new head coach to the CIAA's preseason football gathering in the summer of 2010, however, he was reminded of the wild-card quality snugly nestled within his former quarterback.

"He stands up and says he's going to go 11-and-0," Hayes said. "I like to fell out of my damn chair. I'm thinking: I took a chance on this boy; nobody really expects the world right now; all he's got to do is get in there and start turning things in the right direction and we'll build this thing gradually. But he stands up and says he's going to go 11-0 — he might have said he'd go 15-0. And I said, 'Oh (spit).'

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