MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - Middle Tennessee State University announces May 8 as the date for the formal dedication ceremony of the Dean A. Hayes Track and Soccer Stadium on campus.
The Tennessee Board of Regents approved the renaming of the stadium in late March.
The ceremony will begin at 6:30 p.m. in the Greenland Drive parking lot directly in front of the stadium. Featured speakers will include former MTSU Student Government Association President and current Murfreesboro Councilman Shane McFarland, Middle Tennessee president Dr. Sidney A. McPhee, director of athletics Chris Massaro, former track student-athlete Tommy Haynes and Coach Hayes.
The Kennon Sports Hall of Fame will serve as an inclement weather location. A reception immediately following the ceremony is also planned inside the Hall of Fame, located adjacent to the stadium.
Coach Hayes has served as the head coach for the Blue Raider track & field programs since 1965. His long-term success started with men's track and continued when women's track was added to the slate in 1987. He has also coached the cross country programs.
Among his many accomplishments are 82 All-American honors from 48 student-athletes, 43 total conference championships and 18 NCAA top-25 finishes.
Hayes has also coached four national champions and numerous athletes who have competed internationally in the Olympic Games, World University Games and the Pan-American Games.
He is a member of five Halls of Fame, been named a conference coach of the year 26 times and was an assistant coach during the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea.
The ceremony coincides with the first day of the Sun Belt Outdoor Track & Field Championships, an event Middle Tennessee is playing host to for the first time since joining the league in 2000-01. The Blue Raiders last hosted an outdoor league championship event in 2000, their last season competing in the Ohio Valley Conference.
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