Career
Hughes is a native of Charleroi, Pennsylvania. He was a standout football and basketball player at Charleroi High School. He matriculated to nearby California State College where he played center and linebacker on the football team
He received his degree in education in 1965.
Football career
After college, Hughes spent the next fourteen years teaching biology and coaching football at the high school level in the Pittsburgh area. This included two years as an assistant coach at Bishop Canevin High School, four years as an assistant at North Catholic High School and finally six years as head football coach at North Catholic.
Hughes joined BLESTO, a scouting organization used by the NFL"s Detroit Lions and Pittsburgh Steelers, among others, in 1979 where he spent the next four years as a local and regional college scout. He joined the Detroit Lions in their college scouting department in 1982.
Two years later he moved into the role of Director of Pro Personnel in Detroit.
He served in that role for six years before moving up the ladder to the Director of Player Personnel, where he was responsible for the team"s entire college and pro scouting departments. In 1996, Hughes was named the Lion"s Vice President of Player Personnel, in essence the team"s General Manager (General Motors). He served in that role until being swept aside at the start of the team"s disastrous Matt Millen era.
In 2001 he was hired by his former protégé Kevin Colbert as a draft consultant for his hometown Pittsburgh Steelers.
In 2003 Hughes accepted the position of College Scouting Coordinator for the Steelers, which he still holds. Personal
He and Adrianne reside in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, near Detroit.