Mayes Named as Asbury University’s New Women’s Basketball Coach

Asbury University Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics, Mark Whitworth, has named Chad Mayes as the head coach of the women’s basketball team.

Mayes has more than 20 years of coaching experience in Central Kentucky, has been an assistant coach at Asbury and has worked with the university for a number of years helping to organize and lead team mission trips.

“It is my privilege to welcome Coach Mayes as the leader of the Asbury women’s basketball program,” Whitworth said. “His involvement as a men’s and women’s coach in Central Kentucky for the past two decades provides him with the strong leadership and experience that will benefit our program.

“Chad also understands and embraces Asbury’s commitment to service and ministry, leading many of our student-athletes and teams on international mission trips in recent years.”

Mayes spent the past two seasons as an assistant coach for the Eagles and the past eight seasons as the head assistant coach for the Boyle County High girls basketball team.

“I am so excited about this opportunity,” Mayes said. “To have the chance to lead a college program like Asbury University is a dream come true for me. I’ve grown up in this area, so I’m very familiar with Asbury and have always had a love for the school and the students here.”

Mayes, along with his wife, Chandi, founded the LYNC8 Project, a nonprofit organization that works in the United States and Latin America with college students and young adults, serving the needs of others and sharing the Gospel.

Mayes has coordinated summer mission trips over the past seven years to Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic for several of Asbury’s sports teams.

“My wife and I were talking about how we feel God has been involved in this from the very beginning,” Mayes said. “Coach Will Shouse of the men’s basketball team contacted me seven years ago about setting up a mission trip for him and his team to Puerto Rico to share the Gospel by serving and playing basketball.

“After leading his team, I began a partnership with the AU athletic teams that has taken us to Puerto Rico many times and even to the Dominican Republic to work on safe houses for underage girls rescued from sex trafficking.

“It all started with one simple phone call and now I’m the head coach at the university that I have so much respect for because of not only who they employ, but the students they train to send into the world to make a difference.”

Mayes’ coaching career started as an assistant for the boys basketball team at Harrodsburg High where he helped the team win the 1996 12th Region championship. He served as an assistant for the Mercer County boys and girls basketball teams, being a part of the boys 2000 region title, and coached teams in Puerto Rico.

Mayes has also built a distinguished law enforcement career, serving as an officer for the Kentucky State Police and the Harrodsburg and Lexington Metro police departments.