Bio

A key offensive coaching component of East Mississippi Community College’s 2017 and 2018 national and conference championship teams, Courtland Hays is in his first season of his second stint as an assistant coach on Buddy Stephens’ EMCC football coaching staff.

Having previously worked primarily with EMCC’s running backs during the 2017 and 2018 seasons that saw the Lions put together a combined two-year record of 23-1, Hays now concentrates working with the team’s wide receivers in addition to serving as the program’s recruiting coordinator.

During his prior successful EMCC coaching stint, Hays worked with 2022 Walter Payton Award winner Lindsey Scott Jr., who previously starred as a quarterback at Incarnate Word before playing this past season with the UFL’s Arlington Renegades. Hays also previously helped coach former EMCC wide receivers Kirk Merritt (Arkansas State) and Dontario Drummond (Ole Miss), who spent the past couple of seasons with the NFL’s New Orleans Saints and Dallas Cowboys, respectively. Hays also worked with former FCS running backs Tyrell Price (Chattanooga) and Deon McIntosh (Washington State), who both ranked among the NJCAA’s rushing leaders during their EMCC playing days.

In between his two coaching stops at East Mississippi, Hays divided his previous five years coaching at Mississippi College, Southwest Mississippi Community College and Samford University. Most recently, Hays served as MC’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach during the 2023 season. Under his direction, the Choctaws transitioned from the triple option to a more spread offensive attack and finished the season ranked second in rushing offense within the Gulf South Conference.

Prior to that, Hays returned to the Mississippi junior college coaching ranks as Southwest Mississippi’s offensive coordinator under the direction of Bears head coach and former EMCC defensive coordinator Cliff Collins. While having installed a new offensive philosophy for the program, Hays worked primarily with quarterbacks and running backs. During his two seasons (2021-22) at Southwest, the Bears had their first two SEC signees in more than 20 years with Izavion Miller (Auburn) and Jacoby Bellazar (Mississippi State).

Following his prior two-year coaching stint at EMCC, Hays spent the 2019 season serving as a lead analyst at Samford while working with the Bulldogs’ offensive tackles and tight ends.

Before initially joining Stephens’ East Mississippi football coaching staff in 2017, Hays previously gained a decade’s worth of valuable experience at the University of North Alabama, where he spent five years as a part-time assistant coach and graduate assistant for Hall of Fame coaching great Bobby Wallace within the powerhouse NCAA Division II program. While working with quarterbacks and running backs, Hays was an essential part of the UNA staff that guided the Lions to four consecutive Gulf South Conference championships (2013-16) and a national runner-up finish in 2016. Among the numerous all-conference players he worked with throughout his stint at UNA, Hays helped coach four-time All-GSC running back and 2016 Baltimore Ravens free agent signee Lamonte Thompson.

Along with having the privilege of coaching with Wallace, Hays also gained hands-on experience as an undergraduate working with former North Alabama football coaching veterans Terry Bowden and Mark Hudspeth. During his first five seasons as a UNA student staffer, Hays worked diligently behind the scenes as an integral part of the Lions’ 2008 NCAA Division II semifinal-round playoff team and their GSC championship club the following year.

A product of Tuscaloosa’s Northridge High School, Hays received an undergraduate degree in sports management from North Alabama in 2012 and stayed on the Lions’ football coaching staff to earn his master’s in higher education administration.