PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers women's basketball head coach Coquese Washington announced the final piece of the 2024-25 staff, welcoming Johnetta Hayes as an assistant coach.
Hayes most recently served as the head coach at UMBC for the past four seasons, leading the team to new heights and historic milestones.
"I'm thrilled to announce the addition of Johnetta Hayes to our staff," Washington said. "She is an outstanding teacher of the game and brings a defensive mindset to our program. Our program will benefit mightily from her knowledge and experience."
"I'm honored to join the Scarlet Knights family," Hayes added. "Under the leadership and guidance of Coach Washington and staff, we are training young ladies to be of excellence daily! Coach Washington has a clear vision of where she wants to take this program and I can't wait to do my part in helping her accomplish those goals. I'm grateful for the opportunity to join a program with the tradition and passion of excellence."
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 went onto defeat NJIT, 82-71, to advance to the America East Semifinals for the first time since 2015.
Under her tutelage, Kiara Bell became the first Retriever to be named America East Defensive Player of the Year. Bell was also named the inaugural America East Newcomer of the Year and earned spots on the All-Conference Second Team and All-Defensive Team.
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 also excelled in the classroom, as the team GPA also reached an impressive 3.316 for Fall 2022, and multiple players earned a 4.0 and Academic Honors, such as Dean's List.
Before her time in Baltimore, Hayes was the head coach of Texas Southern University from 2012-2019 after spending the 2012-13 season as the associate head coach. She accumulated a 115-73 record over her six seasons at the helm of the Tigers.
In her debut season, Hayes produced a record of 20-13, one of two 20-win seasons in her tenure. Hayes earned SWAC Coach of the Year in 2015, then guided the Tigers to a pair of regular-season titles in 2015-16 and 2016-17. The squad won the 2017 SWAC Tournament and punched their ticket to the program's first-ever NCAA Tournament berth.
Hayes led the Tigers to four total postseason appearances, including a pair of WNIT appearances (2015, 2016) and the WBI Tournament (2018). 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.
Prior to her time in Houston, Hayes spent two years on coach Cynthia Cooper-Dyke's staff at UNCW as an assistant coach. 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 Prairie View A&M (2004-06).
The Houston, Texas native was a four-year letterwinner 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.
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