KENT — Paul Haynes, head football coach at Kent State University, calls it discovering, “the new normal” for his football team.
The recent death of freshman Tyler Heintz from Kenton hit the coach and the KSU football community particularly hard. It is a program that has been shattered by tragedy throughout Haynes tenure.
The 2014 death of Jason Bitsko, like Heintz an offensive lineman, was devastating at that time. A year later, after a strong freshman campaign, receiver Antwan Dixon had to leave the team with a blood disorder leading to bone marrow transplant and chemotherapy. However, that case is headed toward a more promising ending as Dixon is now in recovery.
Heintz died two days into freshmen conditioning drills, with preliminary autopsy reports pointing to hyperthermia as the cause. Yet over two days on campus, and previously during recruiting, the freshman had connected with his teammates.
“Great kid,” Haynes said. “We have a relationship with Kenton, with the Facklers (former players Mike and Bryce) being here, Matt Bahr (current player) being here. (Brent) Fackler is the head coach there.
“You know what you’re getting out of a Kenton kid. He’s hard-working. He’s tough. Disciplined. And those are all the things Tyler was. Since I got here we’ve talked about ‘OKG,’ our kind of guys. And that’s exactly what he was. He’s our kind of guy. He was everything you wanted in a team player.”
Back to routine
Haynes said the team is now returning to its regular routine, preparing for the coming season when camp officially begins on Aug. 2, even as he and the program try to get back to normal.
“When something like this happens you look at everything, naturally, to make sure you are doing everything you need to be doing for the players,” Haynes said late last week.
“But, to me, sometimes when you sit there and want to change everything, that causes even more panic, issues for our coaches and kids. Getting back to our normal is the right thing to do.”
At the same time, it is hard to erase the untimely death from your mind. Heintz came from a small town with a tight-knit community where high school football was at the core. The high school coaching staff there and at Kent State have drawn close over the years, and this tragedy seems to have drawn them even closer.
“Coach Fackler and I were going back and forth with this, because a lot of the older kids on his team had played with Tyler,” Haynes said. “It was kind of like, what’s right? What’s appropriate? What’s inappropriate?
“We sat there and talked about it. Kind of our sanctuary, for the coaches and the kids and the people involved, is getting back to work. Getting back on the field. That’s our healing.
“Nothing will ever be normal. This is our new normal because we lost one of our brothers. It’s day by day. Love them up a little bit more. Hug them up a little bit more and take it day by day.”
Returning to Kent from the burial service in Kenton, three bus loads of KSU players were attempting to get back to normal.
“It was therapeutic to have the kids around, and for them too,” Haynes said. “They were happy to be back out there getting started, back into a bit of the norm.”
Family meets team
In their ears, Haynes said, were some words delivered privately from the entire Heintz family that Haynes said will stay with the coaches and players for quite awhile.
“I can’t do it justice,” Haynes said of the message. “I can’t put it into words. But, after the funeral, and we were all sitting together as a team, of course the family went out first. And then they took Tyler out. And then they let everyone go (out) in the church, and they did it by row. So we waited for everyone else to leave.
“Right before we were about to leave, their whole family came back in and addressed the team. I couldn’t believe, I can’t put that into words how much our kids appreciated, at that time to actually walk back in.
“I’m talking about the whole family, grandparents and everybody, Shelly and Chris (mom and dad) addressed the team. It was unbelievable. It just shows the type of people they are, at that time, to think of other people. They said they appreciated us coming.
“It meant a lot to them and to Tyler. But I can’t do that justice on how, just looking at our kids eyes at that time. Looking at our coaches eyes at that time. It just put you at a loss for words. But it meant a lot for them at that time to come back in and address this football team.
“Top of the line. Class act. It shows what type of community it is, how strong of a community it is.”
All the tragedies at Kent have somehow tightened the bond around a program that really struggles on the field to have any kind of success.
Aside from KSU’s magical 2012 campaign (11-2), the Golden Flashes have not had another winning season since going 6-5 in 2001.
Something always seems to stymie success. Last season, Kent lost its top three quarterbacks to injury within the first four weeks of the season. Some years the Flashes come up shy at tailback, another year it might be offensive linemen.
Somehow the program bond remains strong. And Haynes is indicative of that as a former Kent player and alum determined to turn the bad on the football field into good.
The now fifth-year head coach said all the coaches in the league, and former players who stay close to the program, close to him, have reached out to offer support.
“We talk about the sacred brotherhood of being an alumni, regardless of how long you’re here, or physically a part of the team, it is a sacred brotherhood that these guys take to heart,” Haynes said.
He then noted the three bus loads of players had decided, independently, to go to the funeral for a player who was part of them for less than a week.
“For all those guys to sit there and go was very impressive,” Haynes said. “And it wasn’t fake. We did not force them to go. We did not tell them they had to go. Again, it’s a sacred brotherhood these guys really hold true.”
Drawing on faith
In the end, combined with his own deep faith, that is what Haynes will draw upon when the coach allows himself to deal with his own grief.
“It’s tragic,” Haynes said. “You really can’t put it into words. That would not do it justice to try to put it into words. Just tragic. Hard to sit and say how you feel. You go through all types of roller coaster emotions.
“In times like this, instead of thinking about yourself, you start thinking about, first the family. That’s first and foremost. And then you start to think about your coaches, your players, and everybody else involved with it.
“It takes some time to get back to you. Because you have so much, to make sure everything else is OK. That’s going to take some time for me to deal with it, just because there is so much else.
“I want to make sure the Heintzes are OK. I want to make sure coach (Brent) Fackler at Kenton is OK. I want to make sure my players are OK, make sure my coaches are OK, before I start trying to deal with everything.”
That is when Haynes will be able to get back to normal.
