Jonas Hayes (born August 9, 1981) is an American

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

coach and former player. He is the current head coach of

Georgia State Georgia state or ''variation'', may refer to: Primarily * Georgia State University ("State", "Georgia State"), a state university * Georgia (U.S. state) ("Georgia state"), a state of the United States of America Sports * sports teams of Georgia St ...

. He previously served as an assistant coach, and later interim head coach, for the

Xavier Musketeers The Xavier Musketeers are the 16 teams representing Xavier University in intercollegiate athletics, including men's and women's basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, swimming, tennis, indoor track and field, and outdoor track and field. The Musk ...

. He was also an assistant coach for the Morehouse Maroon Tigers,

South Carolina State Bulldogs The South Carolina State Bulldogs and Lady Bulldogs (also SC State) sponsors fourteen sports teams representing South Carolina State University in Orangeburg, South Carolina in intercollegiate athletics, including men’s and women's basketball, ...

Belmont Abbey Crusaders Belmont Abbey College is a private, Catholic liberal arts college in Belmont, North Carolina. It was founded in 1876 by the Benedictine monks of Belmont Abbey. The school is affiliated with the Catholic Church and the Order of Saint Benedict. I ...

, and

Georgia Bulldogs The Georgia Bulldogs are the athletic teams that represent the University of Georgia. The female athletic teams are sometimes referred to as Lady Bulldogs. The Bulldogs compete in NCAA Division I and are members of the Southeastern Conference ( ...

. Hayes played college basketball for the

Western Carolina Catamounts The Western Carolina Catamounts are the intercollegiate athletics teams that represent Western Carolina University. The Catamounts compete in the NCAA Division I as members of the Southern Conference. Western Carolina fields 16 varsity sports te ...

and Georgia Bulldogs.

College career

Hayes and his twin brother, Jarvis, initially enrolled at

Western Carolina University Western Carolina University (WCU) is a public university in Cullowhee, North Carolina. It is part of the University of North Carolina system. The fifth oldest institution of the sixteen four-year universities in the UNC system, WCU was founded t ...

in 1999 to play for the

. In his freshman season, Hayes averaged 8.0 points, 4.9 rebounds, 0.2 assists, 0.7 steals, and 0.5 blocks per game on an average of 18.4 minutes. He shot 63.0% from field goal range and 51.2% from the

free throw In basketball, free throws or foul shots are unopposed attempts to score points by shooting from behind the free-throw line (informally known as the foul line or the charity stripe), a line situated at the end of the Key (basketball), restricted ...

line. His field goal percentage was the highest in the

Southern Conference The Southern Conference (SoCon) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I. Southern Conference football teams compete in the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly ...

and the 12th-highest at the

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...

level. Hayes played in 24 games and started one game at Western Carolina. The brothers initially remained there for one season before transferring to the

University of Georgia , mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." , establ ...

in 2000. Hayes had to sit out his sophomore season due to a former transfer rule. In his junior season, Hayes averaged 7.2 points, 5.0 rebounds, 0.5 assists, 0.6 steals, and 0.3 blocks per game on an average of 20.9 minutes. He shot 55.5% from field goal range and 71.4% from the free throw line. That year, he helped the Bulldogs to the NCAA Division I Tournament and had 14 points and 14 rebounds in the team's first round win over

Murray State Murray State University (MSU) is a public university in Murray, Kentucky. In addition to the main campus in Calloway County in southwestern Kentucky, Murray State operates extended campuses offering upper level and graduate courses in Paducah, ...

. In his senior season, Hayes averaged 6.7 points, 4.4 rebounds, 0.7 assists, 0.4 steals, and 0.3 blocks per game on average of 21.1 minutes. He shot 52.8% from field goal range and 61.4% from the free throw line. In his fifth-year season, Hayes averaged 11.9 points, 5.3 rebounds, 1.0 assists, 0.8 steals, and 0.1 blocks per game on an average of 28.4 minutes. He shot 51.2% from field goal range and 65.7% from the free throw line. He graduated from the University of Georgia in 2004 with a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in child and family development.

Coaching career

Following the end of his collegiate playing career, Hayes spent one season as assistant coach at Frederick Douglass High School (Atl). One year later he was hired by

Morehouse College , mottoeng = And there was light (literal translation of Latin itself translated from Hebrew: "And light was made") , type = Private historically black men's liberal arts college , academic_affiliations ...

to be an assistant coach for the men's basketball team in 2005. He remained with the team for one season before being hired as an assistant for the

. In 2007,

Belmont Abbey College Belmont Abbey College is a private, Catholic liberal arts college in Belmont, North Carolina. It was founded in 1876 by the Benedictine monks of Belmont Abbey. The school is affiliated with the Catholic Church and the Order of Saint Benedict. I ...

hired Hayes to be an assistant, a post he remained at until 2012. In 2012, Hayes returned to his alma mater as an operations coordinator for the men's basketball team. In 2013, he was promoted to the role of assistant coach. In his first three seasons as an assistant on Mark Fox's staff, the Bulldogs won 20 or more games, making an NCAA Tournament and two NIT Tournament appearances. Hayes is credited with aiding the development of forwards like Marcus Thornton and

Yante Maten Yante Khaaliq Daiyann Maten (born August 14, 1996) is an American professional basketball player for San-en NeoPhoenix of the Japanese B.League. He played college basketball for the University of Georgia. A 6’7” power forward from Pontiac ...

. He remained with Georgia until Fox's firing in 2018. In 2018, Hayes was hired as an assistant coach for the

. In 2021, he was promoted to the role of associate head coach. Following the firing of

Travis Steele Travis Andrew Steele (born November 12, 1981) is an American college basketball coach, and current head basketball coach at Miami University (OH). He recently served as the head coach at Xavier. Coaching career Steele began coaching as an unde ...

at the end of the 2021–22 regular season, Hayes was named the interim head coach of the team. He led the Musketeers to the school's second-ever NIT championship.

Georgia State

On April 6, 2022 Hayes was announced as the head coach of

Head coaching record

Personal life

Hayes's twin brother, Jarvis, was born five minutes ahead of him and is a former

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

player and current college coach.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Steele, Travis 1981 births Living people African-American basketball players American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Georgia (U.S. state) Basketball players from Atlanta University of Georgia alumni College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Georgia Bulldogs basketball coaches Georgia Bulldogs basketball players People from Atlanta Xavier Musketeers men's basketball coaches 20th-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American sportspeople