DETROIT (1/16/2024) -- The Titans are getting ready for their first game in less than three weeks and today, but head coach Charlie Hayes '18 extended his professional career another year by resigning with the Philadelphia Waterdogs for the 2026 season.

Hayes is in his first year as the head coach at his alma mater after serving the last six seasons as an assistant coach. 

He will enter his seventh year of professional lacrosse and fourth with the Waterdogs. 

Hayes started his career in the Major Lacrosse League in 2019 with the Denver Outlaws, helping the team reach the championship game in 2019 and 2020. He was then taken in the second round, 15th overall, in the 2021 Premier Lacrosse League Entry Draft with the Whipsnakes. 

In 41 professional games, he has tallied 11 points on eight goals and three assists, 86 ground balls and 23 caused turnovers. 

As a Titan, the short-stick defensive midfielder guided the team to its first two winning seasons, a school record for wins, three postseason trips and advancing to one MAAC championship game. He earned First Team All-MAAC Short Stick Midfield and MAAC All-Tournament as a senior and Second Team All-MAAC as a junior.

In his final year as a Titan in 2018, he tallied career highs with 34 caused turnovers and 83 ground balls - both team highs - to go with a career-best 14 points on nine goals and five helpers. He led the MAAC and was seventh in the nation with 2.13 caused turnovers per game, the seventh-highest rate in school history, while the 34 total caused turnovers were tied for the most ever by a short-stick midfielder in NCAA history. 

His 83 ground balls was second in school history and second in the MAAC, while his 5.13 ground balls per game were third in the league and 26th in the nation.

He ended his career playing in 58 total games with 70 caused turnovers and 1.21 caused turnovers per game, both third in school history, along with 147 ground balls, sixth in the record books, and 21 points on 15 goals and six assists.

Off the field, he was a three-time member of the Detroit Mercy Athletic Director's Honor Roll and a two-time recipient of the MAAC Academic Honor Roll and All-Academic Team.