May 29, 2009
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Friday, May 29, 2009) - Former Southeast Missouri State University and Austin Peay State University head track and field coach Joey Haines was inducted into the Ohio Valley Conference Hall of Fame on Friday. Haines, along with former Eastern Kentucky University and Middle Tennessee State University head women's basketball coach Larry Joe Inman, were honored at the annual OVC Honors Luncheon at the Sommet Center in Nashville.
The Ohio Valley Conference Hall of Fame was organized in 1977 with the intent of honoring the coaches, administrators, faculty and staff who have been associated with the OVC for at least five years and provided extensive outstanding service to the Conference. With the induction of this year's class, the membership will reach 65.
Haines spent 30 years as a head coach at two Ohio Valley Conference schools, serving four years at Austin Peay (1978-82) and the final 26 years of his career at Southeast (1982-08) before his retirement in 2008. Although his first nine years at Southeast Missouri were prior to the school joining the OVC, Haines would go on to win 20 OVC Coach of the Year honors (six men's and 14 women's honors) in 21 actual seasons as a league head coach.
Haines was named Division I Women's Regional Coach of the Year in 1998 and Men's Regional Coach of the Year in 2008. At the Division I level he coached one NCAA National Champion and nine All-Americans. In the nine years before Southeast Missouri joined the OVC, Haines coached 23 Division II National Champions and 145 Division II All-Americans. He was also named Division II National Coach of the Year in 1987. Haines was named Missouri Track & Cross Country Coaches Association (MTCCCA) Coach of the Year in 1991 and 1997 and inducted into the MTCCCA Hall of Fame in 2002. He is also a member of the Southeast Missouri State Hall of Fame.
A native of Columbus, Ga., Haines earned his undergraduate degree from Lipscomb University in 1969. He would spend a season as head coach at Franklin High School before returning to his alma mater where he spent seven years as the head track and field coach (1971-78).
