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11:27 AM Sunday, June 14, 2009

Miami University head football coach Mike Haywood sat down with staff writer Pete Conrad recently to talk about Haywood’s days prior to his college career at Notre Dame, about his childhood and his favorite sport, which was not football.

Q You were born in Houston, Texas, in 1964, right? That was about the time Houston was a boom town, becoming the home of NASA’s Mission Control Center (which was built in 1963).

A It was about 35 or 40 minutes away from my family’s home. Every year (my school) had a field trip there.

Q As a child growing up in Houston were you very interested in the space program?

A No, I was more interested in going down to Galveston (Texas), which was 50 miles away, with my parents and grandparents, doing fishing and crabbing. I take my nephews and nieces and their friends there now. We go bay fishing once during the year and go deep-sea finishing during the spring. It depends on the height of the waves whether we go in the (Galveston) Bay or out in the Gulf (of Mexico). We charter a boat.

Q When did you first start playing football?

A I remember I played two years of little league football. After the second year, there was one night and it was what we considered cold, 30-35 degrees, and we were sitting around a trash can with a fire in it, trying to keep warm. I told myself this is the last time I’m playing football, it’s too cold out here.

Q So what was your favorite sport when you were growing up?

A I played baseball from when I was 8 years old to my senior year in high school. I played mostly catcher and shortstop. Then my dad (Delmore Haywood), to save my knees, had me play second base and shortstop and the outfield. He was my coach when I was 15. When I was 11, I went over to Santo Domingo (in the Dominican Republic) and played in the Juan Marichal and Manny Mota Baseball League.

Q Were you involved in other sports?

A I went to San Francisco, to the Jesse Owens track meet and ran the 400-meter (relay). Our team got third. We had a poor exchange with the stick.

Q How did you do in baseball?

A I played baseball as a fourth-grader and I suffered an injury and wasn’t able to play until the eighth grade again.

Q What about football?

A I was 11 years old when I had stopped playing football. I wasn’t going to play any more. Later, I was over at a buddy’s house spending a Friday night, it was before my freshman year. This kid tried to talk me into trying out for the football team. I wasn’t going to go. But all of my friends went out for the team, so I did, too. I was primarily playing just to be out there with my buddies. The next year I got moved to varsity. I asked coach if I could stay with the junior varsity because all of my buddies, they’re all on JV. The next day they were all on varsity. So basically, I played football just to be with my buddies. To this day, my father said I would have been a better baseball player than a football player. Baseball was a family deal. My mother (Johnnie) was a team mother, my sister (Paula) had a role, getting dressed up in team colors and attending every event, and my brother (André) and I were on the team.

Q Who had the most influence on you, as far as sports was concerned, when you were growing up? Was it your father?

A Yes. My dad, it was discipline, determination, perseverance, overcoming adversity. He taught me the proper way to prepare for any contest. My mother taught me all of the academics. She was a math teacher and counselor at St. Peter’s School, (kindergarten) through eighth grade.

Q Did you have a favorite baseball player?

A No, but I used to love the Astros, the Reds and the Los Angeles Dodgers. Whenever the Reds and Dodgers would come into town, we’d go to the games. One of the coaches who had played with my dad knew Manny Mota (of the Dodgers), so Manny Mota, who was the greatest pinch-hitter in history, would always get us tickets for the games. And when Manny Mota and Juan Marichal (hall-of-fame pitcher for the San Francisco Giants) came to talk to our baseball team, they always stressed it was always more important to be a good person, and also it was always better to have good sportsmanship than to have bad sportsmanship.

Q Were you a big Notre Dame football fan?

A No. But I remember Notre Dame played Michigan when I was a senior in high school and Notre Dame got beat pretty bad. Some of my friends said I should go to Notre Dame and help them out. I said no, I’m not going to go. The next thing you know, I’m at Notre Dame where it gets cold. You talk about 30-35 degrees, here I am playing football at Notre Dame where it’s 10-15 degrees.

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