Coach Macy Assembles 2026-27 Women's Basketball Staff
5/13/2026 10:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
New Georgia Southern head coach adds five as the Eagles prepare to defend their Sun Belt title
STATESBORO - New Georgia Southern head women's basketball coach Heather Macy has filled out her staff for the 2026-27 campaign with five new additions to the Eagle program. Assistant coaches Butch Estes, Jasmin Coleman and Donna Carr; player development and analyst Abria Trice and special assistant Josie Earnhardt have joined Coach Macy for her first season in Statesboro.
All five will begin work with the Eagles immediately.
"This is an incredibly unique and special staff because of the experience, perspective and relationships they bring to our program," Coach Macy said. "Having a combination of three former players and three former collegiate head coaches with more than 1,000 combined coaching victories give us an outstanding foundation to help develop players and build more momentum. I truly believe we have all the pieces to the puzzle and I know our community is going to love this group. I cannot wait for everyone to get to know them the way I have."
Estes brings a wealth of collegiate coaching experience from the men's side to his new role as an assistant coach for the Eagles. In a distinguished head coaching career covering more than 35 years with stints at Presbyterian, Furman, Guilford, Miami Dade, Palm Beach State and Barry, Coach Estes has compiled a career 633-394 (.616) record. He went 215-118 (.646) at his most recent stop at Barry University in Miami Shores, Fla., where he coached the men for 12 seasons - two of those concurrent with Coach Macy leading the women's program. The Bucs went to five straight NCAA Championships and two NCAA Division II Elite Eight appearances in his time there. A graduate of North Carolina and a student assistant under the legendary Dean Smith in Chapel Hill, Estes earned his bachelor's degree in physical education from UNC and earned his master's degree in administrative education from The Citadel.
Coleman joins the Eagles from Walters State Community College in Tennessee, where she complied an impressive 77-25 record for the Lady Senators, including a 54-9 versus Tennessee Community Colleges. She guided her teams to three of four TCCAA regular season titles (2021, 2022, 2023), three of the four TCCAA conference tournament championships (2021, 2022, 2023), and an NJCAA Sweet 16 Appearance.
For her efforts, Coach Coleman was named 2023 TCCAA Coach of the Year and Appalachian District Coach of the Year, marking the third time in her career she was earned league Coach of the Year honors. The Georgetown, South Carolina native spent the first nine years of her coaching career as assistant beside hall of famer David Kragel at Walters State. She helped assist the Lady Senators in reaching a NJCAA Final Four, making two trips to the Elite Eight and advancing to the Sweet 16 three times. The Lady Senators complied a 259-40 record and eight top-15 finishes in the national polls during her tenure.
Carr, meanwhile, comes to Statesboro after serving for four years as the head coach of Davis & Elkins College, an NCAA Division II school in Elkins, West Virginia. Prior to that, she was an assistant coach for two years at Hillsborough Community College in Tampa, Fla. Her collegiate playing career began at the University of South Carolina where she was a three-year starter and letterwinner as a small forward for the Lady Gamecocks from 1995-98. She completed her college career at Catawba College in Salisbury, N.C., graduating with her bachelor's degree in sociology while earning All-SAC and SAC Tournament MVP honors in 1999 and helped the Lady Indians to an NCAA Division II Elite Eight appearance.
Trice follows Coach Macy to Statesboro after working with her in previous stops at Nova Southeastern and Barry. A former student-athlete for Coach Macy at East Carolina from 2013-15, Trice graduated from ECU with her bachelor's degree in communications and played overseas in Switzerland, Belgium, Luxembourg and Finland before beginning her collegiate coaching career working at Greensboro College in 2020-22. She received her master's of science in psychology from Grand Canyon University in 2023.
Finally, Earnhardt follows Coach Macy to Georgia Southern after working with her at her previous head coaching stops at Nova Southeastern in 2025-26 and at Barry University from 2023-25. A native of Rabun Gap, Ga., Earnhardt played five seasons of collegiate basketball for Division III Hiram, Spartanburg Methodist for Coach Macy and at Division II North Georgia, helping the Nighthawks to a Final Four appearance in 2021-22. She graduated with two degrees from North Georgia, earning her bachelor's of science degree in psychology in 2022 as well as a bachelor's of science degree in criminal justice in 2023. Earnhardt also added a master's degree in sport and performance psychology from Barry in 2024.
