Johnetta Hayes was named the next head women’s basketball coach at Texas Southern on April 29, 2013 after serving the program in the capacity of associate head coach during the 2012-13 season.
Hayes arrived to Texas Southern after a two year stint at UNC-Wilmington, where she spent two seasons as an assistant coach on former TSU head women’s basketball coach Cynthia Cooper-Dykes’ staff. At UNCW Hayes was a part of a staff that led the program to two 20 win seasons and two postseason appearances.
Texas Southern has quickly elevated to becoming one of the top women's basketball programs in the Southwestern Athletic Conference under Hayes. She has led the Lady Tigers to SWAC Regular Season Titles in 2015-16 and 2016-17. TSU would go on to win the 2017 SWAC Tournament under Hayes direction as the Lady Tigers would qualify for the NCAA Tournament for the first time in the history of the program.
During the 2015-16 campaign Hayes led the Lady Tigers to a WNIT postseason berth for the second time in school history.
In 2014 the Lady Tigers were able to secure the number two seed in the SWAC Tournament held at the Toyota Center. TSU advanced to the Championship game falling to Prairie View A&M in a highly contested game.
TSU faced SMU in the WNIT's first round. In 2015 she was named SWAC Coach of the Year and led the program to its third consecutive post season appearance. TSU was selected to finish in 1st place in the 2015-16 SWAC Preseason Poll.
During the 2013 campaign Texas Southern clinched the number one seed at the 2013 SWAC Women’s Basketball Tournament after winning the schools’ first regular season championship in school history.
The Lady Tigers won 15 straight games dating from Jan. 4 to Feb. 28. The Lady Tigers also set new school records for consecutive wins (15) and overall wins during the regular season (20) during their 2012-13 campaign. Freshman Te’era Williams was named SWAC Freshman of the Year while fellow teammate Brianna Sidney was named to the All-SWAC Second Team.
Prior to coaching at UNC-Wilmington, Hayes spent time as an assistant coach at North Texas. In her two seasons in Denton, she played a pivotal role in the development of the Mean Green’s frontcourt as North Texas’ post players set numerous career-bests in points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocked shots in her time with the program. She also played a key role in the development of Jasmine Godbout, who became just the second player in program history to earn league Rookie-of-the-Year honors when she was named the Sun Belt’s top newcomer in 2009-10.
Before her stint at North Texas, Hayes served as head coach at Wiley College in Marshall, Texas, where she guided the NAIA program to 42 victories in her two seasons and led the program to a Sweet 16 appearance. Hayes led the Wildcats to a 29-7 record in 2007-08 and helped the school earn its first-ever national ranking as Wiley finished the campaign ranked No. 22 in the country. The 2007-08 Red River Athletic Conference Coach-of-the-Year, Hayes coached seven all-conference players and the RRAC Newcomer-of-the-Year in 2007-08. Hayes-Perry got her initial start in coaching serving as a graduate assistant at Prairie View A&M under Cooper-Dyke.
During her playing days Hayes was a prolific defensive player and four-year letterwinner at Rice. She was a 2003 first-team All-WAC selection after leading the Owls in scoring, rebounds, blocked shots and field goal percentage. She ranked 16th in the nation that season in blocked shots per game, averaging 2.46 rejections per contest. Hayes-Perry is second all-time in blocked shots at Rice with 142 and ranks sixth in school history with a career rebounding average of 8.1 rpg per game.
A native of Houston, Hayes got her head coaching start in 2004 at her alma mater, Sterling High School. In one season at Sterling, she won 22 games and advanced her team to the playoffs. She graduated from Rice in 2004 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology and Biology and has a Master’s Degree in education administration from Prairie View A&M. Hayes has two daughters Khloe and Zoie.
