Jonas Hayes dismissed as head coach at Georgia State
The Jonas Hayes basketball era at Georgia State ended on Saturday when the school announced he would not return for a fifth season as the men’s basketball coach.
Hayes compiled a 48-77 record in four seasons and never had a team get past the second round of the Sun Belt Conference Championship.
Hayes, 44, arrived at the school with great fanfare in 2022. He became one of the hottest young coaching prospects in the nation after leading Xavier to the NIT Championship as an interim coach.
“It’s home for me,” Hayes said when hired. “There’s no adjustment period. This is Georgia State University. I grew up a stone’s throw from this campus, so there was a zero-adjustment period for me. It was an opportunity to hit the ground running, and it was a dream come true.”
Hayes had a tough act to follow. He arrived on the heels of Rob Lanier, who had taken the team to three consecutive winning seasons and the NCAA Tournament in 2022, where the Panthers put a scare into No. 1-ranked Gonzaga. Lanier was lured to SMU days after that season was over.
Hayes was left with a near-empty cupboard – only one regular stuck around – and got a late start in recruiting. His first team went 10-21 and finished near the bottom of the Sun Belt Conference standings.
Things improved over the next two years. The Panthers were 14-16 in 2023-24 and 14-19 in 2024-25 and won their first-round game at the conference tournament.
But the 2025-26 season was a step backwards. GSU was 10-20 and eliminated in the first round of the tournament for the third time in four years.
Hayes had the ideal script for the job. He grew up in Atlanta with his twin brother Jarvis and starred at Douglass High School. He started his college playing career at Western Carolina before transferring to Georgia for his final three seasons. He averaged 8.6 points and 4.9 rebounds in 88 games with the Bulldogs and helped them reach the postseason twice.
He began his coaching career as an assistant at Morehouse in 2005-06, was an assistant coach at South Carolina State in 2006-07, and worked five seasons at Belmont Abbey (2007-12) before joining the UGA staff in 2012. Hayes remained at Georgia until moving to Xavier as assistant coach from 2018-22.
About the Author
Stan Awtrey has been covering sports for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution since 1977. He currently writes about high school sports, Georgia State University athletics and golf.
