STANFORD, CALIF. ? Former Kansas University assistant football coach Tom Hayes officially was added to Stanford’s staff as defensive coordinator and secondary coach Monday.
“This is a great opportunity and a tremendous challenge,” Hayes said, “and I am looking forward to working with coach (Walt) Harris, his staff and the Stanford football program. After coaching in the Pac-10 at UCLA for nine years, I have an unbelievable respect for the Stanford athletic program.
“I’m excited to be part of the Stanford community.”
Hayes, a 1971 graduate of Iowa, was the defensive coordinator and secondary coach for the Jayhawks in 2001 and was named interim head coach for the final three games after Terry Allen was fired.
Tom Hayes, a former assistant and interim head coach for the Kansas University football team, soon will be named defensive coordinator at Stanford, sources say.
The Cardinal are expected to announce the hiring Monday or Tuesday. Hayes will complete the staff of new head coach Walt Harris, who replaced Buddy Teevens in December.
When reached by phone, Hayes would neither confirm nor deny the hiring.
Hayes, 55, was KU’s defensive coordinator in 2001 under Terry Allen, then took over head-coaching duties when Allen was fired midway through the season. He guided KU to a 1-2 record, including a 27-14 victory over Wyoming.
New KU coach Mark Mangino did not retain Hayes, and since then Hayes has been out of coaching. He’s the owner of Tanner’s Bar and Grill, 1540 Wakarusa Drive.
Prior to his brief stop at KU, Hayes was a secondary coach for the Washington Redskins for six seasons, and before that held assistant-coaching jobs at Oklahoma, Texas A&M, UCLA, Cal State-Fullerton and Iowa dating back to 1977. He was a defensive back at Iowa from 1967-70.
Stanford finished 4-7 for the second straight season in 2004, including a 2-6 mark in Pac-10 Conference play. Cardinal athletic director Ted Leland fired Teevens on Nov. 29, then hired Harris away from Pittsburgh two weeks later.
Chuck Jones appears to be making the most of a new opportunity.
“He did well in school and did well in spring football,” Portland State football coach Tim Walsh said of Jones, a defensive tackle who transferred from Kansas University last winter. “We’d like to see him work a little harder in the weight room, but he’ll be a good player for us. I’d be shocked if he didn’t start.”
Jones, an Altadena, Calif., native, was an All-American at Pasadena City College in 2002 before transferring to KU.
Jones (6-foot-4, 280 pounds) started three games in 2003 and made 23 tackles, but he struggled with injuries and was in coach Mark Mangino’s doghouse late in the season. He did not play in five regular-season games, including the final four. He and fellow defensive lineman Monroe Weekley — who also left the team — were both left off the team’s travel roster for the Tangerine Bowl.
Jones transferred to Portland State and made a good impression on his new team during the spring.
“Chuck’s a different guy, but it’s been in a positive way,” Walsh said. “We hope good things happen for him, and we hope good things happen for us.”
Portland State was 4-7 last season, ending a streak of five consecutive winning seasons. Jones, a senior who is one of three Division One transfers who joined PSU for 2004, won’t have to sit out after transferring to the Division II program.
Another former Jayhawk defensive lineman, sophomore Kyle Knighton, appears to be headed to Missouri Western.
Knighton (6-3, 250) was limited to three games by an injury as a freshman in 2002 and was granted a medical red-shirt. He played in nine games last season but made just two tackles.
Knighton, who could not be reached for comment, set Missouri prep records for single-season tackles (222) and career tackles (547) at West Platte High in Weston, Mo., where he was a teammate of KU quarterback Adam Barmann.
Missouri Western coaches could not be reached for comment, but several sources — including Knighton’s brother Cole — said the lineman planned to transfer to Missouri Western for the fall semester after attending summer school at Maple Woods.
A former Kansas University football player will be sentenced in February for his role in a fight outside of a Lawrence bar earlier this year.
Brock Teddleton, who played defensive tackle, pleaded no contest to a battery charge last week in Douglas County District Court. A jury was supposed to hear the case this week.
Teddleton, who left the football team on his own at the end of this season, was involved in a fight March 9 at Jack Flanigan’s Bar and Grill, 806 W. 24th. The victim was a 19-year-old KU student.
Teddleton’s attorney said he tried to reach a diversion agreement between his client and prosecutors, but the district attorney rejected it.
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