Coastal Georgia didn’t have to go far to find its new head coach for women’s basketball. On Wednesday, the Mariners announced that Denise Hannah would take over the program.
Last season, Hannah was an assistant at Sun Conference rival Thomas University in Thomasville and also head coach of the Georgia Pursuit national basketball team in the D-League.
“Coach Hannah brings an infectious passion and enthusiasm for basketball to our team,” Coastal Athletic Director William Carlton said in a statement. “She is a strong leader who sets high standards and expectations and works tirelessly to help her players achieve those high standards. She is a proven and effective recruiter who is very familiar with our recruiting footprint. After all, as a trainer at Thomas, she knows our competitors in the Sun Conference and also our student athletes, which enables her to get off to an exceptionally fast start. “
Coach Hannah brings success and experience from professional basketball, college and high school with him.
Prior to joining Thomas, Hannah was a successful academic trainer and athletics consultant at Albany State University. From 2017 to 2019, Hannah was an assistant trainer at St. Thomas University, another Sun Conference institution, for two years.
Hannah was a high school coach for nine years while teaching at Miami-Date County Public School. She also served as the athletic director and coordinator for academic achievement in the high school.
Your knowledge of TSC and how to succeed academically and athletically will strengthen the Coastal Georgia women’s basketball program.
“It is an honor to be named the next women’s basketball head coach at the College of Coastal Georgia,” said Hannah. “I am very excited to be joining an institution with such a rich history and basketball program for women with a well-known winning tradition. I am President Dr. Michelle Johnston, Sporting Director Dr. Extremely grateful to William Carlton and the Search Committee for their faith in me leading this program. I would also like to thank my family, who have always encouraged and supported me on my way.
“I am delighted to be able to lead the student athletes on this team to their very best.”
During her playing career, Hannah was a distinguished player at Oklahoma City University for four years. She helped lead the team to the NAIA National Championship in 1988. After the stellar season, Hannah earned a spot on the NAIA National Championship All-Tournament Second Team.
As a NAIA All-America Third Team selection for two seasons, it also received the First Team All-SAC award every four years. She was named Freshman of the Year at the Sooner Athletic Conference. She finished her career as the fifth top scorer of all time and holds the school record in scoring (1,755) and rebounding (1,255).
Hannah played overseas for the Republic of China. During her time on the team, she was the team captain and was named Defensive Player of the Year. She was the team rebounding leader (15 per game) and finished second on the team in scoring (17 per game).
Hannah earned her BS in Criminal Law from Oklahoma City University.
“Since we were so close to the start of the academic year, the timing for our search was not ideal; Our selection committee had a difficult job choosing our head coach because of the exceptionally strong pool of candidates, ”said Carlton. “Our committee had to evaluate the application documents efficiently in order to narrow the field down to a small group of finalists. The background and the wealth of experience of trainer Hannah as a player and trainer came to the fore during the first screening and during the interview.
“Trainer Hannah becomes the fourth head coach of the women’s basketball program. We are confident that she will continue and improve the team’s outstanding performance achieved by all of our previous head coaches in the highly competitive Sun Conference. “
