Rusty Hayes has been coaching the rodeo team at Southern Arkansas University since 2005-2006. During his time at SAU, he has also served as Director of Farm Operations until 2020, when he became Executive Director of Story Arena as well as Rodeo coach. Rodeo has been an important part of SAU since 1971. Edmon Smith was any early coach that had significant success with the rodeo program. The program had trouble finding a home and started to fade. It was brought back to significance by a group of students led by Rusty Hayes, the current coach. Rusty has a bachelor’s and master’s degrees from SAU and extensive experience in agriculture and rodeo. Since he began his coaching career has consistently had team members qualify for the National College Finals Rodeo.
