DaytonDailyNews.com

OXFORD — One of Mike Haywood's first tasks as Miami University football coach has been to find out who, exactly, is willing to endure.

The RedHawks held their first official spring practice Saturday, March 21, with a couple hours of drills, from late morning to early afternoon.

Compared to what they had been through the past several weeks, it must have felt to the players like they were on spring break.

The RedHawks already had been introduced to the kind of dedication Haywood expects from them through something called "fourth quarter workouts." Four days a week Haywood would have his players gather and begin pushing their bodies at 6:30 in the morning, a time of day most college students are unaware of.

"It basically tells if the young man is going to buy into the program and who's not going to buy into the program," the first-year Miami coach said. "It tells how you're going to react to adversity, because you're going to have adversity each and every day."

"It was early, it was cold, it was outside, and it was hard," said Miami quarterback Daniel Raudabaugh, who will be a fifth-year senior this fall.

And it brought everybody together, Raudabaugh added. "They brought in a philosophy of one fail, all fail."

Haywood said he is emphasizing techniques and fundamentals. And not just those of football.

"We're requiring young men to be on the field and off the field as men," he said. "We're asking young men to have discipline, to get up at an appropriate time, to behave like a champion, dress like a champion, to do their homework like a champion and to play like a champion.

"This will help us to develop a winning tradition and restore Miami back to its glory days," Haywood added.

If Haywood is pushing his players, he's pushing himself and his staff even harder.

Haywood's work usually begins at 5:30 a.m. and most days he goes until 10 p.m.

"I'm still living out of a suitcase," he said. "I'm living in the Miami Inn. Basically, I've had only one day to look for a house. I'm going to look again today."

He has no complaints.

"The community has been really warm in welcoming me," he said. "My staff and I feel really comfortable here."

So what does Haywood do when he gets a rare chance to relax?

"I enjoy fine dining," he said. "Once a week, an assistant coach and myself, we may go to a restaurant here in town or in Cincinnati. That's relaxing to me."

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2197 or pconrad@coxohio.com.