The Alabama State University’s vice president and director of athletics, Dr. Jason Cable, will introduce Johnetta Hayes as the new head women’s basketball coach at a press conference on Tuesday, April 15, at 1 p.m. in The ASU Stadium's Lounge.
Hayes, who spent the 2024-25 season as an assistant coach for Rutgers University, becomes just the third head women’s coach at ASU since the program’s inception in 1983-84. She replaces Freda-Freeman Jackson, who announced her retirement in March after 27 seasons.
PRESIDENT ROSS'S STATEMENT
ASU's president, Dr. Quinton T. Ross, Jr., shared the following remarks.
"The Alabama State University Hornet Nation is thrilled to welcome Coach Johnetta Hayes as the new head coach of our women’s basketball team," said President Ross. "Coach Hayes is a proven winner and a two-time SWAC Coach of the Year who brings championship level experience, a relentless drive for excellence, and a passion for developing student-athletes on and off the court. Her leadership will energize our program and inspire greatness in our talented roster of young women. We are confident that with Coach Hayes at the helm, Lady Hornets basketball is poised to rise to new heights. Let’s go, Hornet Nation!"
COACH HAYES’S BACKGROUND
Hayes brings 10 years of head coaching experience to the Hornets, including six successful years as head coach at SWAC member Texas Southern University (TSU) from 2013-19. Her overall record as a head coach is 197-165 and 130-80 in conference games, including coaching stops at the University of Maryland Baltimore College (UMBC) and Wiley College.
During her TSU tenure, she posted an 83-24 SWAC Record (78 percent) and had a 115-74 overall (61 percent) mark. She led TSU to two SWAC regular season titles, one SWAC tournament title, and four overall postseason tournaments (2 WNIT and 1 WCBI). In addition, she was a part of the staff that led Texas Southern to the WNIT in 2013 as the associate head coach after winning the SWAC regular-season title.
Before Rutgers, Hayes most recently served as the head coach at UMBC for the past four seasons, leading the team to new heights and historic milestones.
In the 2022-23 season, Hayes led the UMBC Retrievers to an 11-win improvement, one of the best in the nation. Hayes also led the team to a 10-6 mark in America East play, their second-best record in program history. UMBC defeated NJIT, 82-71, to advance to the America East Semifinals for the first time since 2015.
Hayes’s squad excelled in the classroom as the team GPA also reached an impressive 3.32 for Fall 2022, and multiple players earned a 4.0 and Academic Honors, such as being named to the Dean's List.
Before her time in Baltimore and Texas Southern, Hayes spent two years as an assistant on Coach Cynthia Cooper-Dyke's staff at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington (UNCW) Seahawks. During her stint there, the Seahawks recorded back-to-back 20-win seasons and WNIT appearances.
Before arriving at UNCW, Hayes was an assistant coach at North Texas (2008-10), where she helped mentor Sun Belt Conference Rookie of the Year honoree Jasmine Godbout, who became the second player in program history to earn the honor.
Hayes has also served as the head coach at Wiley (Texas) College (2006-08) and as an assistant coach at Prairie View A&M (2004-06).
The Houston, Texas native was a four-year letter winner at Rice University (2000-04). She earned First Team All-WAC honors in 2003 after leading Rice in scoring, rebounding, blocked shots, and field goal percentage. Hayes was ranked 16th nationally in blocked shots per game during the 2002-03 season, averaging 2.46 blocks per game, and is third in program history with 142 blocked shots in her career.
Hayes graduated with a Bachelor of Liberal Arts degree from Rice University in 2004 and earned a Master of Education degree from Prairie View A&M University in 2006. She has two daughters, Khloe and Zoie Perry.