Georgia State reportedly parts ways with basketball coach Jonas Hayes

“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 backward. 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.