The Journey: Hana Haden's experience at each level led her to Georgia Southern
On3’s Talia Goodman is showcasing women’s college basketball coaches taking over at new schools. This is the fifth edition of the series – in which we’ll take a deeper look at some of the 50-plus coaches who took over new programs during a turbulent offseason.
Hana Haden bio
BORN: Springfield, Missouri
EXPERIENCE: 2014-15: University of Missouri-St. Louis, 2015-17: Harris-Stowe State (head coach), 2017-18: Lamar, 2018-23: Moberly Area CC (head coach), 2023-24: Georgia Southwestern State (head coach)
PLAYED: UMSL, Mineral Area College, Western Carolina
Why Georgia Southern?
Hana Haden spent time at nearly every level of women’s basketball. From a Division I assistant to leading junior college and Division II teams, Haden has experience with all sorts of programs and the challenges they each bring.
She became a head coach for the first time at the age of 23 and had to learn how to lead a program on the fly. Now, after leading Division II Georgia Southwestern to an Elite Eight berth and earning WBCA Division II National Coach of the Year honors in her first season at the helm of the program, she was given the opportunity to be the next head coach at Georgia Southern – an opportunity she couldn’t refuse.
“I knew it was a great opportunity, but it was a really hard decision,” Haden said. “Now that I’m on the other side of the decision, though, obviously it’s really exciting.”
The biggest difference in moving up divisions is the resources and support available to Haden and the student-athletes she’s coaching. Between sports psychologists, nutritionists and even strength coaches, the manpower available to Haden is new and exciting.
“The most I’ve ever had is two assistants and now you’ve got four assistants and GA’s and just so many people,” Haden said. “I think what’s exciting for me is that all those things that we tried to piece together ourselves – now it’s all laid out where we can recruit these high-quality players and you have all the resources and support to help back that up with a really high-level experience.”
Hana Haden’s coaching style, mindset
As one of the youngest D-I head coaches in the country, Haden uses her age and energy to her advantage. With many older coaches choosing to retire or getting frustrated due to the ever-changing landscape of college athletics, Haden views herself as adaptable and at the perfect point in her career to embrace these changes.
“If I was later into my career, I might not want to mess with all of this stuff that is going on now,” Haden said. “But right now, I’m young. I’ve got a lot of energy, and I think I can use that to my advantage in even understanding the money part. Like if I’m getting offered more money over here and I’m 18, I’m going there, too. I think it kind of just helps – the lens that I have. I think it just helps me understand and maybe even try to stay one step ahead.”
As a coach, she notes that her teams will always play hard. Defense is a big stressor for Haden, and she wants her teams to be as connected as possible.
“We want to be the hardest playing team,” Haden said. “We want to be really gritty. And we want to have a little bit of an edge. We want to be the first team to the floor, and we want to be the most connected team…That’s probably from year to year the hallmark of our program.”
Pat Smith, the men’s basketball coach at Moberly Area CC, has a saying that Haden has since taken and added her own spin.
“He would always say: Get better each day and win the next game,” Haden said. “I’ve added the third part – which is to play our best basketball in March. Those are our three goals.”
Something you may not know about Haden
Hana Haden is obsessed with Allen Iverson.
He’s the reason she first started playing basketball and that obsession has morphed into a shoe collection, buying jerseys and even imitating Iverson’s signature look with a headband as a kid.
When she was coaching at Moberly, one of her assignments for her team was to go home and watch the Iverson documentary that came out.
“It’s my dream to meet Allen Iverson,” Haden said, with a laugh. “I’ve never met him…. I think I have every Allen Iverson shoe ever made.”