Sources: NCAA DII power tabs defensive coordinator to run program's offense

There is coaching versatility, and then there is Tyler Haines.

A former NCAA Division II head coach who’s also served as a defensive coordinator, co-special teams coordinator and a position coach in his career, Haines has accepted the position of offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Shepherd University, an NCAA Division II powerhouse in West Virginia.

Previously the head coach at now-defunct Urbana University, which shuddered in spring 2020, Haines spent the past two seasons as defensive coordinator, co-special teams coordinator and inside linebackers coach at Baldwin Wallace University in Berea, Ohio. 

Haines also coached on both sides of the ball at Adrian College (Michigan) during the early stages of his coaching career, which began at the high school level.

Haines had a five-year run atop the Urbana program, and he prior to that served as offensive coordinator at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, helping that program to a 9-2 ledger in his final year and top 25 national ranking.

In 2021, Shepherd had the Harlon Hill Trophy winner – NCAA Division II’s version of the Heisman Trophy – in junior quarterback Tyson Bagent, who has compiled an 30-8 mark as Shepherd’s starting quarterback across the past three seasons. Bagent last year threw for more than 5,000 yards and amassed 53 touchdowns; he’s tossed for more than 9,000 yards in his first three seasons of collegiate football.