Haines plans to retire after 26th 'lap'

~ Longtime Southeast track coach Joey Haines will step aside after the current school year.

Not that Joey Haines appeared on the verge of being shown the door any time soon.

But Southeast Missouri State's longtime track and field coach never wanted to even get close to the point where that became a possibility.

So one of the university's all-time most decorated coaches recently decided to retire, effective at the end of the current school year.

"The main reason I want to retire now, I want to retire on my terms. There's not many coaches any more that do that," Haines said Tuesday. "I want to go out when the program is very good. I don't want to go out because I lost interest and I wasn't giving it what it needs. I don't feel like I'm at that point yet, but I don't want anybody else to tell me it's time to go."

Haines, 61, will certainly leave a legacy that will be hard to match by whoever takes his place.

Entering his 26th year at Southeast -- the indoor season begins in early December -- Haines has led the track and field program to success in both Division I and Division II.

Since the university moved up to Division I in 1991 and joined the Ohio Valley Conference, Haines has led Southeast's women to 15 OVC titles and the men to five.

Since 2004, the women have captured six OVC crowns, with the men winning two.

Before Southeast made the jump to Division I, Haines built one of the nation's premier Division II programs, with 18 top-four trophies and one national championship.

Haines has coached 145 Division II All-Americans (including 23 national champions) and five Division I All-Americans (including one national champion).

Overall at Southeast, Haines has won 20 OVC coach of the year awards, six Division II regional coach of the year awards and one Division II national coach of the year award.

"What can you say about coach Haines and everything he's achieved. He's been outstanding," Southeast athletic director Don Kaverman said. "He has represented this university in a first-class manner. He'll be hard to replace. I don't know how we'll ever be able to replace him. They will be big shoes to fill for anybody."

Road to Southeast

A native of Columbus, Ga., Haines was a javelin thrower at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tenn., where he began to sow the seeds of his coaching career.

"I started off as an accounting major, but then I started working with the intramural department, refereeing basketball games and doing other things," he said. "I realized I liked that a lot more than adding numbers up, especially other people's numbers, so I switched to physical education."

After two years as an assistant at Lipscomb and two years as a head high school coach in Tennessee, Haines became Lipscomb's head coach in 1971.

Haines took over Austin Peay's program in 1978, then in 1982 came to Southeast. Little did he know he would still be in Cape Girardeau more than 25 years later.

"No, but I could see the potential here," Haines said.

While Southeast had a strong Division II program before Haines arrived, winning numerous MIAA titles, it was never a major player on the national scene.

Haines changed that right away.

"We always had a very good track program, but it was always based on winning the MIAA. They had never finished higher than 11th at the Division II nationals," Haines said. "Our first year we were fifth."

It only got better after that, with those 18 top-four finishes.

"Our last few years in Division II, we were really, really good," Haines said. "Nobody knows how good we were. We were one of the top 20, 30 teams in the United States for all divisions."

There were some initial rough spots when Haines' program moved up to Division I, but after a few years Southeast started to regularly win OVC titles.

Haines is proud that, not only does Southeast fare well in the OVC, his athletes have also made their mark on the national level, which is different in track and field than in other sports.

"We've set the bar so high, everything we do is based on getting to nationals," he said. "To get there, it doesn't matter if we beat Morehead State or Tennessee-Martin. We have to compete against the LSU's, the UCLA's. If we're not in the top 17 or 18 in the nation, we don't get there."

With so many accomplishments by his teams and individuals, Haines said it's hard to pick out any one thing that stands out above the rest.

But ranking at or near the top is current senior Miles Smith, originally an unheralded high school recruit from St. Louis who has developed into a multiple All-American and among the world's premier 400-meter runners.

Smith earned a gold medal at the 2005 World Championships in Finland as a member of the United States 1,600-meter relay team.

"There are so many things that are just really sweet, but probably from an individual thing, nothing can compare to going to Helsinki with Miles and watching him running in the World Championships," Haines said. "I'm there while he's working out in one lane, and there are world record-holders working out in other lanes.

"You can't imagine how satisfying that is to know one of your guys is among the best in the world."

In general, Haines said the consistency of his program is what makes him particularly proud.

"To be able to keep it going," he said. "I've been really lucky that I've been able to get good athletes in here, and find good coaches to be able to help me."

Haines credited the Southeast administration for its support, and also the support of his family.

Haines has been married to Jane for 39 years, which is also the amount of years he's been coaching. The couple has two married children, Jennifer and Talley -- a former minor league pitcher who reached the Class AAA level -- and three grandchildren.

"I couldn't have done it without her [Jane], without her understanding," Haines said. "The same with Jennifer and Talley. They had to be very understanding, because I had to miss a lot of things they were doing growing up."

Haines said he won't have any trouble staying busy in retirement. He and Jane raise show goats -- "We kind of got into it by accident, but it's competitive and a lot of fun," he said -- and he also plans to hold track camps.

In the meantime, Haines will spend his final school year as a coach making sure the program is in strong shape for whoever takes over.

"We really have a young team and we expect to do really well," Haines said. "I'll miss it [coaching], but I think it's the right time for me."

Possible replacement

Kaverman said the university is evaluating the process for eventually naming a replacement for Haines.

Haines is pushing for Eric Crumpecker -- his top assistant who has been with the program since 1991 -- as his successor.

"I would love to see him take over the program," Haines said. "He's been very loyal. He's had a lot of opportunities to leave, but he's a Missouri guy and he would like to stay here."

Kaverman said Crumpecker will receive serious consideration for the position.

"Absolutely. Eric has toiled for many years in support of our program. He's been extremely loyal. He'll get prime consideration," Kaverman said.

Added Kaverman: "It's a very attractive opportunity. We've got very good facilities, and coach Haines has had a lot to do with that. Track is very important to us. We want to continue the success he's had."