Feb 05, 2013

Chargers Welcome New Basketball Coach

Jay Joyner Brings Division I Experience To Columbia State

Jay Joyner will begin his first season at Columbia State Community College as Chargers head basketball coach during the fall 2009 semester. A native of Amityville, NY, he has served in several administrative and coaching positions in college and high school basketball.

"I am very excited. It is my first opportunity to lead my own program," said Joyner. "Columbia State has rich tradition and I'm trying to take it to the next level."

Joyner is no stranger to Columbia State basketball. During the 2005-06 season, he served as an assistant coach for Malcolm Montgomery, Columbia State's former men's head basketball coach.

"It's great coming back to Columbia State," said Joyner. "I had a great time working with Malcolm Montgomery and I plan to pick up where he left off and run with that."

Joyner comes to Columbia State after spending the previous year as an assistant coach at Cumberland University. During his time there, he became involved with the day-to-day operations of men's basketball as well as assisting in all basketball-related events on campus and coordinating student-athlete documentation as it relates to NAIA compliance.

Prior to his stint as assistant coach at Cumberland University, Joyner served two seasons at Rutgers as the director of player development, where he was dedicated to ensuring the personal progress of each student-athlete. His duties included scheduling personal and team peer exercises, assisting with the coordination and monitoring of individual player's daily schedules and scheduling student-athlete mentoring programs on and off campus.

From 2003 to 2005 Joyner served as an administrative assistant and assistant strength coach at Tennessee State University. He was involved in a variety of daily operations within the men's basketball program including arranging home and away practice times, organizing team travel, coordinating film exchange, coaching clinics and monitoring academic progress. Joyner also managed the strength and conditioning program for men's basketball. Preceding his time at Tennessee State University, Joyner served as the assistant coach for the boy's varsity team during the 2002-03 academic year at Centennial High School in Franklin, Tennessee.

A three-year letter winner at South Carolina State from 1993 to 1996, he played professionally overseas. This included a one-year stint with Canarias de la Laguna, a basketball team based in the Canary Islands.

"This is a big plus for our program," said Louis Conner, Columbia State's athletic director. "Jay has a lot of experience at different schools and I think that could take Columbia State to the next level."

Joyner earned a bachelor's degree in Physical Education from Middle Tennessee State University in 2002. He and his wife, Chartarra, have three children.

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