IU football defensive coordinator Bryant Haines is operating in rare air.
For the second straight season, Haines has been announced as one of five finalists for the Broyles Award, which honors college football’s top assistant coach. He is one of five who were selected from approximately 1,500 assistant coaches representing 134 FBS programs across the country.
Haines becomes the second Indiana assistant coach named a finalist for the award, which has been handed out each season since 1996. He joins Kane Wommack, who was a finalist in 2020 and 2021.
In just his first year at IU, Haines has had an immediate impact on a unit that ranks among the top-10 in numerous defensive categories. He revived an Indiana defense that ranked 98th in scoring defense and 85th in total defense in 2023 into a top-5 unit in just one season.
His group has limited opponents to under 100-yards rushing in eight of 12 games in 2024, which is a program record (since 1950), and leads the FBS in rushing defense (70.8). His aggressive style of play helps IU rank top-20 nationally with 86.0 tackles for loss and 34.0 sacks on the season.
Going back to his time at James Madison, Haines’ defense has led the nation in rushing defense in each of the last two regular seasons.
Per Pro Football Focus, Indiana has the No. 2 rated defense in the nation (94.2), behind 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-game has been a plus for IU, as well, and 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 the first two offensive drives of the game (70 yards on its 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 offense output (316 yards) since the beginning 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 post its largest margin of victory against an FBS opponent.
A selection committee of distinguished former head coaches, broadcasters and a committee representing the Football Writers Association of America will name an overall winner on February 13, 2025, at its annual awards banquet in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
The Broyles Award was created in 1996 recognizing Coach Frank Broyles’ legacy of selecting and developing great assistants during his hall of fame career as head coach at Arkansas.
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