There are nearly 100 Black female and male coaches leading women’s college basketball teams this season. Last week the MSR talked with three veteran Black female HCs in separate in-person interviews after their respective contests. Here we speak with Rene Haynes.
Sports Odds & Ends
Rene Haynes is the program’s first and only coach since Long Island University combined the LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds and the LIU Post Pioneers in 2019-20. She was named the women’s basketball head coach in April 2019, after five seasons as a Duke University assistant coach.
Haynes, a former collegiate star at Michigan State (2004-08), who played a couple of seasons overseas, literally got into coaching because of her brother-in-law, she explained.
“I came back home to Ohio after I finished playing professionally. My brother-in-law said he needed a middle school coach. He asked if I could help him out with the high school team. [I said] why not? So I did that. And at the same time I was a substitute teacher. I thought my passion…was teaching.
“That started my coaching career, and I pretty much never looked back,” she continued. From a private school in Ohio, Haynes went on to become a graduate assistant coach at Florida State, then an assistant coach at Western Michigan before reuniting with her former MSU coach at Duke for five seasons. Then came her first head coaching opportunity at LIU.
“Coaching just kind of fell under the umbrella of teaching,” said Haynes. “Having the patience and being able to break things down. I’ve always been a giver,” she adds. “If I can change the life of somebody, if I can help them…develop into a better player, that’s what I’m gonna do.”
Haynes is among the 1,000-plus Black coaches in college sports these days. “When people see me,” said Haynes proudly, “I want them to know and see a strong Black woman.”
Last season, LIU ranked in the top 25 nationally in three-point percentage defense (.273) and second behind Fairleigh Dickinson in the Northeast Conference. The 2023-24 Sharks return their two top scorers from a year ago, along with eight newcomers, five from the transfer portal.
Haynes is fully aware that she is in an elite group—Black female head coaches. With that comes responsibility.
“I think as Black women in the game…that we have to promote the excellence of it,” said Coach Haynes. “We can’t be too shy to talk about it. I think that more will come because there are a lot of qualified coaches. In due time.”
Now in her fourth season at LIU, Haynes said, “You can see more Black women getting in the game, see more [Black] head coaches getting opportunities. And with these opportunities, they’re doing amazing jobs.
“We’re closing that gap a little bit,” concluded Haynes on the low number of Black head coaches in college basketball. “I think what we have to do is make it as close as possible…for the next person that comes behind me.”
Support Black local news
Help amplify Black voices by donating to the MSR. Your contribution enables critical coverage of issues affecting the community and empowers authentic storytelling.