Arkansas State men's basketball head coach Ryan Pannone hired Hayden Sowers, one of the top junior-college head coaches in the country, as an assistant coach ahead of the 2025-26 season.
Sowers – the two-time Western Junior College Athletic Conference Coach of the Year – joined the Red Wolves after spending the last four seasons at one of the top junior college programs in the country, South Plains College in Levelland, Texas, including the past three as head coach of the Texans. In a decade of coaching – eight at the junior-college level and two in the prep ranks – 95 Sowers-coached players have reached the Division-I ranks.
"Hayden Sowers comes to us from South Plains College where he led them to the junior college Final Four and an Elite eight in his two years as a head coach," Pannone said. "He's proven to be an extremely successful coach who produces winning teams through the ability to recruit really good student athletes and create an environment that they play together and win games. He was recommended to me by Coach (Bryan) Hodgson at the highest level as a great person, an elite-level recruiter, and a great coach. I was able to do my background and intel on him and every person I communicated with said the same thing: elite work ethic, great person, great recruiter, can really coach, a rising star in the business. I got the same feeling for who he was as a human being, so he was the very first hire that we had to make. I thought it was too important for us to not be able to make an opportunity to hire a coach with his stature."
During his three years at the helm, South Plains went 83-19 overall and back-to-back Region V titles. The Texans finished in the quarterfinals or better of the NJCAA National Tournament the past two seasons, including a semifinal finish this season.
This past season, Sowers led the Texans to the NJCAA semifinals and a 29-7 overall record, a year after taking them to the quarterfinals with a 32-3 mark. In his first year as head coach, SPC went 22-9. He also helped the team to a Sweet 16 appearance in 2021-22 in his lone season as an assistant under NJCAA Hall of Fame coach Steve Green. In three of his four seasons at South Plains, the Texans won regional titles.
"My family and I couldn't be more excited to join the Arkansas State family," Sowers said. "Coach Pannone an elite basketball coach and an even better person, so the opportunity to join him in Jonesboro was a no-brainer! I am excited to recruit and develop young men that will make Red Wolves fans proud. I'm honored to be a part of this program and can't wait to get to work."
Prior to joining the Texans, the Tupelo, Miss., native spent four years as an assistant at Pearl River Community College, during which the Wildcats amassed an overall record of 90-11 from 2018-21. During the 2019-20 season, PRCC went 28-0 and earned the No. 1 national seed in the NJCAA Tournament, which was eventually canceled due to COVID-19. In his stint at PRCC, Sowers recruited and coached four NJCAA All-Americans and sent 22 players to four-year universities.
Sowers also spent two seasons as an assistant at Massanutten Military Academy, helping the team to a 56-11 record and sending 18 players to four-year universities.
From 2013-16, Sowers served as a graduate assistant at his alma mater, Ole Miss, under head coach Andy Kennedy.
