Stacey Hairston joined the Urbana football staff as defensive coordinator in the spring of 2017.
Hairston brings over 20 years of coaching experience to the Blue Knights, primarily at the Division III level. The Columbus native spent the past four seasons as Wilmington's head football coach and both played and coached a dozen years as an assistant at Ohio Northern.
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Not only does Hairston bring extensive coaching experience to the table, he played professional football for seven years. After signing as a free agent in 1989 by the Dallas Cowboys, Hairston spent a year in Dallas before playing three seasons as a three-year starting defensive back for the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League.
He returned to the NFL for three seasons with the Cleveland Browns, where he was an integral part of the league's top-ranked defense in 1994.
Hairston coached ONU's defensive backs and special teams for seven seasons. After a short stint as the team's interim head coach, he was promoted to co-defensive coordinator and co-special teams coordinator, where he stayed until 2008.
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