FAB 4. HAYES’ CONNECTION TO KOETTER DATES BACK TO IDAHO
Buccaneers defensive line coach Jay Hayes is entering his second year in Tampa Bay on Dirk Koetter’s staff, but his history with Koetter dates back over 35 years. In case you didn’t know, Koetter, a native of Pocatello, Idaho, was college teammates with Cincinnati Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis at Idaho State.

Lewis was an All-Big Sky Conference linebacker from 1978-80 for the Idaho State Bengals and became an assistant coach at his alma mater in 1981. Koetter, who was a year younger, was a backup quarterback at Idaho State, and completed 31-of-54 passes for 349 yards as a senior in 1981 on a team that won the FCS national championship.

Hayes, who was from McDonald, Pennsylvania, the same area near Pittsburgh that Lewis was from, actually played defensive end for rival Idaho. Hayes was an all-conference defensive end for the Vandals in 1980-81.

Bucs head coach Dirk Koetter – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

“I played at Idaho and Dirk played at Idaho State,” Hayes said. “We were in the same class. When I was a freshman he was a freshman. The first time I ever heard of Dirk Koetter, there was this girl I knew who said, ‘Dirk Koetter is the quarterback of Idaho State.’ I was like, ‘Who the hell is he?’ My freshman year was the first time I ever heard his name.”

Although Koetter played some quarterback at Idaho State and Hayes was a star defensive end at Idaho their paths never crossed on the field. Hayes didn’t get the chance to sack his future boss back in 1981.

“No, I can’t say that I did,” Hayes said. “I don’t remember even being on the field the same time that he was. I think we were 2-2 against those guys, maybe 3-1. Marvin played defense.”

One of those wins against Idaho State came during Hayes’ freshman year at Idaho he recalled during an interview session at One Buccaneer Place on Thursday. Idaho State took two small planes to the game at Idaho – one with offensive players and one with defensive players. The plane with the Bengals’ offensive players, including Koetter, caught fire and had to turn around and go back to the airport. Idaho State had to forfeit the game because they didn’t have enough players to play against the Vandals. Hayes’ father had flown out from Pennsylvania to see his son play, but didn’t get the chance to because the game was cancelled.

Bengals TEs coach Jonathan Hayes – Photo by: Getty Images

Decades later when Lewis became the head coach at Cincinnati in 2003, he hired Hayes to become the Bengals defensive line coach, which was a position he held for 13 years until moving to Tampa Bay. Hayes’ younger brother, Jonathan, who had a 12-year career as an NFL tight end, mostly in Kansas City where he was a second-round pick in 1985, also joined Lewis’ staff in Cincinnati in 2003.

Hayes was asked what going back to Cincinnati for the 2017 preseason opener to coach against Lewis and his brother for the first time will mean for him.

“Other than to see my brother and my friends – it’s just preseason,” Hayes said. “I have never coached against him (my brother). Prior to us being in Cincinnati we were never on the same team because he was younger than me. I was a senior when he was in ninth grade, so in high school we were never on the same team other than coaching in Cincinnati for those 13 years. It will be fun. I’m going to wear my shirt – my mother got us all shirts that say ‘Mom loves me best.’ So I’m going to wear that shirt.”

While Hayes knew that staying with Lewis and the Bengals was always a safe option, he opted to leave for an opening in Tampa Bay when his contract expired prior to the 2016 season. Lewis and new Bucs defensive coordinator Mike Smith were on the same staff in Baltimore when the Ravens won their first Super Bowl in 2001. Lewis was the defensive coordinator and Smith was the team’s linebackers coach, and their defensive philosophies were similar.

It was also a chance for Hayes to coach for Koetter, who has been close friends with Lewis for close to 40 years, for the first time. After 13 years in Cincinnati with several playoff appearances it was time for a change.

“I have a lot of history with Marvin,” Hayes said. “We grew up together. I’ve known him my whole life. Our families have been friends and founding members of our church from 130 years ago. … The First Baptist Church of McDonald, Pennsylvania. This will be the 131st year. My great-grandparents [were] Saunders and Ida Bennett, and Marvin’s great-grandparents, C.S. Lewis I think was his great grandfather’s name, they founded it in my great-grandparents’ house on Railroad Street in McDonald. … Stuff like that. It was hard [to leave], and we still communicate and talk. I’m going to his golf outing up there this weekend. It was hard, though.

Jay Hayes and Marvin Lewis in Cincinnati – Photo by: Getty Images

“It was hard, it was very hard. It was just an opportunity, and my kids were all out of college. I’ve got one kid who is still in college, but the other two graduated. Everyone was out of the house. It was a new challenge. Sometimes you need to clean your garage out. Thirteen years in one house I had stuff that I didn’t take out of boxes from my move at Notre Dame and Cal, and my wife was really mad that I still had those boxes. It was just time to do and do something new and experience something new – a new challenge. It was fun for me to come here and deal with some new people. I had built that room in Cincinnati and built that line and had a lot of success.”

Hayes’ first year in Tampa Bay was a success. Hayes’ defensive linemen recorded 28 out of the Bucs’ 38 sacks last year, a slight improvement over the 27.5 sacks that Tampa Bay’s defensive line recorded out of the team’s 38 sacks in 2015 under former defensive line coach Joe Cullen.

Hayes also had to deal with several injuries to key defenders last year. Starting defensive end Robert Ayers, Jr. missed four games with a high ankle sprain, while starting nose tackle Clinton McDonald missed four games due to a hamstring strain. Defensive end Will Gholston also missed the last two games of the season due to a dislocated elbow, including a key loss at New Orleans in Week 16, which cost the Bucs a chance at the playoffs.

But losing pass-rushing defensive end Jacquies Smith, who was Tampa Bay’s second-leading sacker the previous two years, to a torn ACL in the season opener at Atlanta was the biggest blow.

Bucs DL coach Jay Hayes – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

“It was huge because he only played one play,” Hayes said. “He played one play and it was disheartening, really. We went into the game and I think we stopped them on that first third down against the Falcons and he went out on the punt team and kind of got jostled. It was not a big hit. I think somebody just put his hand on him and his leg [buckled]. He walked off. I was talking to him and I said, ‘Hey, Jack. Next series let’s …’ and the trainers were talking to him and he said, ‘I think I hurt my knee.’ Then [the trainer] said that he thought he tore his ACL and that was it. He got one play.”

Smith, who signed his restricted free agent tender this week, is expected to be back by training camp, but his injury forced Noah Spence, the team’s second-round draft pick, to play a lot more snaps sooner than anticipated. Spence became a starter after recording his first NFL sack at Arizona in Week 2 when Ayers injured his ankle. But in Week 4, Spence suffered a dislocated right injured against Denver, yet wore a harness and played through the pain during the entire season.

“This is one of the toughest groups of men that I’ve ever coached from top to bottom,” Hayes said. “When you look at Will, Clinton, Gerald [McCoy] and you look at Ayers and Noah Spence, who pound-for-pound is one of the toughest. He’s a young guy, but pound-for-pound … and what he did last year playing with that shoulder and playing all those games and not coming out.

“The last game of the year, we flushed [Panthers QB] Cam [Newton] and he slid down and popped [his shoulder] out. He popped it in before he got up. He came over to the sideline and the trainers grabbed him and were working on him.”

Spence went back in and played the rest of the game, helping Tampa Bay end the season with a 17-16 win to finish 9-7. During the year, Hayes helped the Bucs achieve their first winning season since 2010 by having to prepare three rookies – Spence, DaVonte Lambert and Channing Ward – for a significant amount of playing time last year due to the rash of injuries.

Bucs DE Noah Spence – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

While Lambert and Ward are rotational role players, Spence is an emerging star. McCoy said that Spence will have a breakout year, and Ayers recently suggested that Spence could become a 15-sack guy in his second season.

Like his ties with Lewis that date back to growing up in the same part of town, Hayes also has a Pennsylvania connection with Spence, his prized pupil. Whenever Hayes utters the trigger words “fifth grade in Harrisburg,” Spence finds an extra gear and takes it to another level.

“He was just a tough little kid growing up in Harrisburg,” Hayes said. “I always tell Noah, it’s like fifth grade in Harrisburg – and he goes. “That’s all he has to hear. Then he’s just like a bull. That’s just Noah.”

If he stays healthy, and he’s expected to participate in training camp as he’s still rehabbing from offseason shoulder surgery, Spence has a chance to become Tampa Bay’s first double-digit sacker since Simeon Rice last accomplished that feat in 2005. Spence had 5.5 sacks and three forced fumbles during a rookie season that was hampered with that shoulder injury.

And Hayes’ tutelage will certainly play a big role in Spence’s success this year and in years to come.