Alabama State University Athletics

Johnetta Hayes enters her second season as the sixth head women's basketball coach at Alabama State University in the 2026-27 season.

Hayes, who came to the River Region after serving as an assistant coach for the Rutgers Scarlet Knights, takes the reigns of the Lady Hornets women's basketball program from Alabama State Athletics Hall of Fame head coach Freda Freeman-Jackson, who retired after 27 successful seasons at the helm. 

Hayes spent the 2024-25 season as an assistant coach for Rutgers University, assisting the team to a 12-9 home mark and a run to the third round of the WNIT. She primarily worked with the centers and was the Defensive Analytics Coordinator in her lone season in Piscataway.

Hayes is a veteran coach with 10 years of head coaching experience, including six highly successful seasons as the head coach at Texas Southern University from 2013-19.
 
"Today, we celebrate Johnetta Hayes as the new head women's basketball coach at Alabama State University," Vice President and Director of Athletics Dr. Jason Cable said. "Her passion for the game, commitment to player development, and vision for success align perfectly with our vision. I do not doubt that our women's basketball program will reach new heights under her leadership, fostering both athletic excellence and personal growth for our student-athletes."
 
During her tenure at Texas Southern, she posted an 83-24 SWAC Record, winning 78% of her conference games with an overall record of 115-74.  She led TSU to two SWAC Regular-Season titles, one SWAC Tournament title, and four overall postseason tournaments (1NCAA tournament appearance, 2 WNIT appearances, and 1 WCBI appearance). In addition, she helped lead Texas Southern to a 2013 SWAC regular-season title and a WNIT appearance as the associate head coach.  Haynes's overall record as a head coach is 197-165 and 130-80 in conference games, with head coaching stops at Wiley College, Texas Southern, and the University of Maryland-Baltimore.
 
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 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. 
 
Under her tutelage, Kiara Bell became the first UMBC player named America East Defensive Player of the Year. Bell was also named the inaugural America East Newcomer of the Year, earning spots on the All-Conference Second Team and All-Defensive teams.  
 
KK White also was named to the All-Conference Second Team, while Ashia McCalla was voted onto the All-Conference Third Team and was named to the Academic All-District Team.   
 
Hayes' squad excelled in the classroom. The team GPA also reached an impressive 3.32 for Fall 2022, and multiple players earned a 4.0 and Academic Honors, such as 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. During the stint, 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 from Prairie View A&M University in 2006. She has two daughters, Khloe Perry and Zoie Perry. 
 
 

JOHNETTA HAYES YEAR-BY-YEAR COACHING RECORD
		Overall			Conference
Year	School	Wins	Losses	Pct.	Wins	Losses	Pct.	Postseason & Honors
2006-07	Wiley	14	14	.500	7	10	.412
2007-08	Wiley	29	7	.806	14	2	.875
2013-14	Texas Southern	20	13	.606	15	3	.833	WNIT
2014-15	Texas Southern	19	11	.633	16	1	.941	WNIT SWAC Coach of the Year
2015-16	Texas Southern	19	11	.633	14	4	.778	SWAC Regular Season Champions
2016-17	Texas Southern	23	10	.697	14	4	.778	NCAA SWAC Tournament Champions SWAC Regular Season Champions
2017-18	Texas Southern	19	13	.594	13	5	.722	WBI
2018-19	Texas Southern	15	15	.500	11	7	.611
2019-20	UMBC	10	18	.357	6	10	.375
2020-21	UMBC	2	6	.250	2	4	.333
2021-22	UMBC	3	23	.115	2	14	.125
2022-23	UMBC	14	15	.483	10	6	.625
2023-24	UMBC	10	19	.345	6	10	.375
2025-26	Alabama State	17	16	.515	12	6	.667
Coaching Totals
2 Seasons	Wiley	43	21	.672	21	12	.636
6 Seasons	Texas Southern	115	73	.612	83	24	.776
5 Seasons	UMBC	39	71	.355	26	44	.371
1 Season	Alabama State	17	16	.515	12	6	.667
14 Seasons		214	181	.542	142	86	.623