Shay Hayes new girls basketball coach at High Point Central High School

from Michael Lindsay with the High Point Enterprise…..www.hpenews.com

HIGH POINT – Some coaches might be intimidated to step into a role in which a predecessor won five state championships and had the gym court named after him.

But not Shay Hayes.

Hayes, who played at East Carolina and has spent the last two decades coaching both at the college and high school levels, has been selected the new girls basketball coach at High Point Central.

She takes over for Aaron Taylor, who coached the team for three seasons and left to become the boys basketball coach at West Brunswick.

“I’m excited,” she said Wednesday in the school gym. “I’m excited to open up a new chapter, start a new journey. There’s definitely lots of tradition.

“If you’re going to start at a new school, you might as well start where there’s already tradition. There’s a great reputation here. And that’s what you want to do – you want to be remembered with the greats.”

Hayes, who grew up in Maryland, has spent the last nine seasons coaching college basketball – two seasons as an assistant at East Carolina, one season as an assistant at George Washington and the last six as head coach at Louisburg.

Prior to that she coached 12 seasons in the high school ranks in Eastern North Carolina – eight at Farmville Central, where the Jaguars won the NCHSAA 2A state championship in 2006, and four at Holly Springs.

To read more on Shay Taylor, from Michael Lindsay with the High Point Enterprise, CLICK HERE