Crawford Native And Life-Long Football Coach Named President Of Doane University

    A Crawford native who’s spent the last 4 decades as a football coach has been named the new president of his alma mater – Doane University. 

     Dr Roger Hughes starts June 1st, succeeding Jacque Carter, who resigned last June. The 60-year old Hughes, who holds a PhD in exercise physiology from Nebraska, had been head coach at Stetson University in Florida since 2010.

    Doane trustee and search committee chairman Paul Schelstraete says “Although it is rare to find a PhD who is a football coach and who continues to pursue strong academic interests, they do exist. Dr. Hughes is among them.

      Schelstraete calls Hughes “a highly capable visionary leader, an outstanding team-builder who excels at developing relationships, (and) fund-raising. Close ties to Doane were seen as an asset.

      Not only did Hughes, who played football and golf at Doane, graduate from the school in 1982, his brother and sister both went there and his daughter Maddison is a 2018 Doane graduate. 

      Hughes says on Doane’s website that his life “has been devoted to helping young people become leaders and the best version of themselves,” so he’s excited about the opportunity to return to a liberal-arts college that offers “professors who not only mentor students, but actually become their advocates.” 

       Hughes says the “intimate setting” of Doane “allows it to provide high-impact experiential learning opportunities that are becoming more valued by students and their parents,” adding that he’s excited about Doane’s future.

      After leaving Doane, Hughes was a graduate assistant at Nebraska under Dr Tom Osborne as the Huskers went to the 1984 Sugar Bowl and 1985 Fiesta Bowl. He left Nebraska with a PhD in Exercise Physiology in 1987 and has coached ever since. 

       Hughes is one of just 5 men with 10 or more years as head coach at Princeton, leaving when Stetson brought back football after 57 years.