Tomekia Reed was chosen as the new head women’s basketball coach at Hinds Community College, her alma mater, on Friday, April 10, 2015.
She replaced Micheryln Smith, who previously served the college in the same role for eight seasons from 2007-2008 to 2014-2015.
Reed comes to Utica, where the Hinds basketball teams are located, from the University of New Orleans, where she spent the 2014-2015 season as the Privateers’ recruiting coordinator and head assistant.
During her time at UNO, she tutored Randi Brown, the Southland Conference Freshman of the Year, and helped turn the UNO program around after being hired in July 2014 due to an extensive reach in recruiting in the Southeast region and heavy involvement in organizing community outreach projects.
“I am truly ecstatic for this opportunity to coach at my alma mater,” Reed said. “The vision that our president (Dr. Clyde Muse), vice president (Dr. Debra Mays-Jackson) and athletic director (Gene Murphy) have are definitely in line for this program to be successful.
“I am truly thankful that I was chosen to be at the helm in pursuit of excellence. I am excited about our future and the plans we have to ensure we graduate our student athletes, develop their skills and talents, prepare them for life after college and provide them with an amazing college experience deeply rooted in discipline, integrity and character.”
Prior to her one season at UNO, she was at Louisiana Tech University in 2013-2014, serving as the program’s community college recruiting coordinator and helping lead the Lady Techsters’ to the Conference USA tournament quarterfinals as a 14-seed.
Reed also spent three seasons (2010-2013) as an assistant coach and community college recruiting coordinator at the University of Southern Mississippi, where she helped bring in a nationally ranked recruiting class in 2013. While coaching at USM, she also tutored Jamierra Faulkner, currently a point guard for the Chicago Sky of the WNBA (Women’s National Basketball Association).
“We are excited about coach Reed coming back home to Hinds Community College as our head women’s basketball coach,” said Hinds Community College athletic director Gene Murphy.
“Her work ethic and successful career as a recruiter, as well as her vision for the program, bring excitement. We look forward to her moving our program ahead.”
Reed started her collegiate coaching career as recruiting coordinator at South Georgia Technical College from 2004-2006 and moved into the same role at Jackson State University from 2006-09 and the University of Louisiana-Lafayette from 2009-10.
She has assisted in several high ranking recruiting classes, including the 2014 class at Louisiana Tech, which garnered a national Top 50 ranking and was the second-highest ranked class in Conference USA.
She began her collegiate playing career at Southern Miss, helping lead the program to a WNIT appearance before transferring to Hinds Community College for the 2000-2001 season.
It was at Hinds that Reed led the Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges (MACJC) in rebounds per game with an astonishing 19 boards per contest. She was also second in the conference in scoring and was chosen as the MACJC Most Valuable Player and was an All-State first team selection.
Reed transferred to Georgia Southwestern State University after her time at Hinds, where she led the team in scoring (finishing second in the conference) and was given the Team MVP Award.
She earned an Associate of Arts from Hinds in 2001 and a Bachelor of Science in exercise science from Georgia Southwestern in 2003.
“I am grateful for the support I have received over the last couple of days. I can remember from my playing days at Hinds in Utica that we were a family,” Reed said.
“Everyone was a part of this family — from the students, to the coaches, to the professors, as they all cared about the well-being of the students. I am looking forward to rejoining my family.”
