Back in early July, former Middle Tennessee football standout and NFL All-Pro safety Kevin Byard and legendary MTSU Track and Field Coach Dean A. Hayes were named to the Conference USA Hall of Fame Class of 2024. Byard and Hayes (posthumously) will be recognized during the first quarter of MTSU's game against Kennesaw State Tuesday night.
 
Byard will be in attendance while daughter Erin Hayes will represent the Hayes family. 
 
The Blue Raiders and Owls will kickoff at 7:00 PM from Floyd Stadium and the game will be broadcast nationally on CBS Sports Network. Tickets can be purchased online HERE.
 
Byard and Hayes are the first two Blue Raiders to be inducted to the CUSA Hall of Fame, which inducted its first class in 2019. Byard is the first defensive player to enter the Hall of Fame. 
 
Byard, a four-year starter for the Blue Raiders from 2012-15, finished his MTSU career as the program's all-time leader in interceptions (19), interception return yards (377), interception return touchdowns (4). He forced or gained 25 turnovers (19 INT, 5 FF, 1 FR) in 49 career games played. 
  
The Lithonia, Ga., native was a named First Team All-CUSA twice his career (2014 and 2015) and was a FWAA Freshman All-American in 2012. He was drafted in the third round of the 2016 NFL Draft by the Tennessee Titans, where he was named first-team All-Pro in 2017 and 2021.  
 
A four-time CUSA Coach of the Year, Hayes won 11 CUSA titles during his time at the helm of the Track and Field program, six titles with men's teams and five with women's teams, including the final two titles his teams competed in prior to his passing in January 2022, sweeping the 2021 Conference USA Cross Country Championships. His student-athletes won 87 Conference USA individual titles and his Blue Raider teams were awarded Athlete of the Year awards 13 times during CUSA Track and Field Competition during Hayes' tenure at the program's helm.  
 
The Conference USA Hall of Fame is the ninth hall of fame Dean A. Hayes has been inducted into, joining the Blue Raider Hall of Fame (1982), the Illinois Sports Hall of Fame (1993), the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame (1994), the Mason-Dixon Athletic Club Hall of Fame (2005), the USTFCCCA Hall of Fame (2008), the Lake Forest College Hall of Fame (2009), the Naperville Hall of Fame (2019) and the Ohio Valley Conference Hall of Fame (2023).