Head Coach Mercedes Corona Leaves for Florida

Lady Greyhound Head Basketball Coach Mercedes Corona is leaving ASU Mid-South after being named the new head coach at Tallahassee Community College in Tallahassee, Florida. She leaves the program as the most successful coach in school history after four seasons with an overall record of 49-43, and her winning percentage of .533 is the best in the history of the program.

After inheriting a squad that went 10-15 in 2017-18 with an interim coach, Corona was forced to recruit a team in less than two months after getting the job in the summer. Her first season saw the team go 0-10 before being unable to finish the season due to not enough eligible players after the first semester ended. Corona hit the road recruiting the rest of the 2018-19 season and her second season saw the program improve to 7-21 against a brutal schedule in 2019-20, but the team improved and lost in the region tournament semifinals by just four points to the eventual region champion.

Then in her third year with a host of returners she recruited the prior year, the Lady Greyhounds turned the corner in what is the best season in school history, going 25-2 on the way to the NJCAA Region 2 Championship, NJCAA South Central District Championship, and advancing to the program's first-ever NJCAA National Tournament in Hickory, North Carolina, where they finished 3-1 and placed seventh in the nation. This past season the Lady Greyhounds again played one of the toughest schedules in the nation and finished 17-10 while being ranked #16 in the final NJCAA National Rankings.

Corona leaves ASU Mid-South for an NJCAA Division I program that won the national championship in 2018 and competes in one of the toughest regions in the nation. In addition, two other teams from the Florida region have appeared in the national championship game in the last eight seasons.

"Coach Corona did everything you would want a head coach to do with a program that had not had much success," said Greyhound Athletic Director Chris Parker. "She is a tireless worker, very professional in how she approaches her responsibilities, and she definitely changed the culture of the program and is leaving it much better than she found it. Greyhound Nation will miss her, but we thank her for her efforts and wish her all the success in the world."

A search for her replacement will begin immediately.