MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — When Ed Arning first started working in the MT athletic department as a student assistant in the Sports Information department, it didn't take him long to meet Dean A. Hayes, the head men's track and field coach at Middle Tennessee State.
It helped that Arning's boss, Jim Freeman, alongside co-worker Jim Simpson, was great friends with Hayes, with the trio regularly having lunch with each other every single day they were all in town. Lunches that Arning would soon get the chance to join himself. And once Arning got over his initial intimidation at the track coach's credentials, he soon learned why Dean Hayes was critical to everything going on with the Blue Raiders, not just his track program.