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Bio

Janay Yancey comes to the University of Tennessee Southern after serving as an assistant at Alcorn State University for two years.

Yancey served as the Head Volleyball Coach at Mississippi Valley state in 2020-21.

Before her coaching stint at Mississippi Valley State, Yancey spent 3 seasons as Head Volleyball Coach at Tuskegee University after spending time as an assistant at Alabama State. She was only the second full-time head coach in the program's history. While at Tuskegee in 2018, Yancey led the Golden Tigers in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) West Cluster without suffering one loss throughout the weekend. She also coached Taliyana Bryant, who was named to the SIAC All-Conference Team and was also Player of the Week on two separate occasions. Santana Lewis was also a standout player for Yancey being named two-time Player of the Week to go along with being named Newcomer of the Week.

In 2016, Yancey assisted ASU in earning the 2016 Southwestern Athletic Conference Tournament Championship and its third NCAA appearance in school history. Much of her on-court coaching has focused on the middle blockers. While at Hampton, her team ranked fourth in the MEAC in blocks in 2014. She assisted Hamptons first ever-two-time AVCA All-America Honoree and two-time MEAC Player of the Year. In winning the MEAC, the Lady Pirates made their first-ever NCAA Div. I Tournament appearance, taking on No. 7 seed Stanford in the first round. In 2015, Yancey helped lead the Lady Pirates to their second NCAA appearance where they faced the Tar Heels of UNC.

Yancey began her coaching career as a student assistant at Middle Tennessee State in 2010, when MTSU won the Sun Belt Conference championship with a 29-6 record and made its fifth NCAA appearance. In 2011, Yancey joined South Alabama as a graduate assistant.

Her collegiate playing career began at North Carolina State in 2006. Yancey lettered there for two seasons as a middle blocker; as a sophomore, she averaged 2.07 kills and 0.62 blocks per set. She would later transfer to Middle Tennessee State in 2008 and be named to the All-Sun Belt Tournament Team while also earning Conference Defensive Player of the Week as a senior in 2009. In 2008, Yancey was named to the Sun Belt’s Commissioner’s List for academic excellence.

In her final season at MTSU, she won the Sun Belt Conference Championship. Yancey currently ranks fifth in program history in career blocks per set, averaging 1.09 blocks per set in her two years with the program. She also hit .368 in 2008, recording the seventh-best single-season hitting percentage, and her .364 hitting percentage as a senior in 2009 is the ninth-highest mark in a single-season school history. Yancey ranks 5^th all-time in attack percentage after completing the 2008 season.

Yancey holds a Bachelor of Science in Exercise Science from MTSU and a Master of Science in Exercise Science from South Alabama. In 2011, she was a recipient of the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Minority Coaches Scholarship. She is a 2014 Women Coaches Academy Graduate. In 2017-2018 she participated in the NCAA’s development program and the Minority Coaches Series. During the 2018-2019 season, she represented the SIAC Conference for the NCAA Division II Head Coaches committee.

Yancey, a native of Columbia, Tenn., is a member of the AVCA and a 2014 NCAA Women Coaches Academy graduate.

Coaching History