Haines a Broyles Award finalist

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – For the second straight season, Indiana football’s defensive coordinator Bryant Haines has been announced as a finalist for the Broyles Award, which honors college football’s top assistant coach.

Haines becomes the second Indiana assistant coach to be named a finalist for the award, which has been presented every season since 1996. He joins Kane Womack, who was a finalist in 2020 and 2021.

In just his first year at IU, Haines has made an immediate impact on a unit that ranks in the top-10 in several defensive categories. He resurrected an Indiana defense that ranked 98th in scoring defense and 85th in total defense in 2023 into a top-5 defense in just one season.

His unit has limited opponents to under 100 yards rushing in eight of 12 games in 2024, a program record (since 1950), and leads the FBS in rushing defense (70.8). His aggressive style of play helps IU rank in the top-20 nationally with 86.0 tackles for loss and 34.0 sacks on the season.

His defense has led the nation in rushing defense in each of the last two regular seasons.

According to Pro Football Focus, Indiana has the No. 2 rated defense in the nation (94.2), trailing only Texas. Overall, the defense has allowed 20-plus points on just three occasions in 2024, 30 points just once, and held the opposition to under 300-yards of total offense seven times.

His ability to adjust in the game has also been a plus for IU, none more impressive than holding Michigan State to 193 yards of total offense — including a program-record minus 36 yards rushing — after the Spartans gained 123 yards on their first two offensive drives in the game (70 yards on the next 10 drives – 7.0 yards per drive).

In Week 11, the Hoosiers held Michigan to 206 yards of total offense to mark its lowest offensive output since the start of the 2016 season. A Week 13 meeting with Ohio State saw IU hold the Buckeyes to its fourth-lowest total offensive output (316 yards) since the start of the 2018 season.

In Week 14, his unit limited Purdue to its fewest yards of total offense in program history (67) and helped Indiana to its largest margin of victory against an FBS opponent.

Haines is one of five finalists who were selected from approximately 1,500 assistant coaches representing 131 FBS programs across the country. A selection committee of prominent former head coaches, broadcasters and a committee representing the Football Writers Association of America will select an overall winner on February 13, 2025 at its annual awards banquet in Hot Springs, Arkansas.

The Broyles Award was established in 1996 to recognize Coach Frank Broyles’ legacy of selecting and developing great assistants during his hall of fame career as head coach at Arkansas.