Written by Niamani Carlyle-Hollis, Staff Writer

A new addition has been added to the Valdosta State Athletics and Blazer basketball program, with the hiring of Jason Mays to be an assistant coach.

With years of experience under his belt, Mays was a great choice for the program.

Mays’ began his career by being a graduate assistant under the leadership of Head Coach Max Good at Maine Central Institute in 1999. Mays was later promoted to assistant coach.

Having coached at Georgetown College for seven years, Mays was able to become associate head coach in 2003 after being initially hired as an assistant coach in 2000.

Mays also gained experience in recruiting by doing so nationwide as well as internationally during his tenure at Georgetown College. Being a part of Georgetown College’s basketball program; Mays helped lead and guide their team to NAIA Elite Eight and to the Final Four, helped train and coach 5 All-Americans, 20 All Mid-South Conference players, 9 Mid- South Conference Academic All- Conference players, and 11 players that went on to play professionally after their college career.

Not only are athletics a passion of Mays, but academics is as well. While coaching at Georgetown College, Mays made sure academics came first. Players held a grade point average of 3.05 and graduated at a rate of 81 percent.

In 2007 Mays took time away from coaching to focus more on his family and has since been working as a financial advisor and pursuing a Master’s degree in Education.