Jackie Martin-Glass has accepted a job as the head coach of the Hinds Community College girl’s basketball team after 10 seasons as the head coach of Warren Central girl’s basketball team and three years as an assistant.

Martin-Glass accrued an impressive 130-116 record as the coach of the Lady Vikes and was named the Vicksburg Post coach of the year four times.

The job opening at Hinds  Community College came after former head coach Tomekia Reed to the head coaching position at Jackson State, and Martin-Glass made her name available.

Originally, Tangela Banks was named her successor, but Banks eventually had to decline the job for personal reasons.

Then, Martin-Glass was offered the job.

“It is a huge step,” Martin-Glass said. “I’m very excited about the opportunity to actually go to the next level, I always wanted to coach at the next level.”

Martin-Glass said that she had originally put off that dream to be focused on her family.

She said she accepted the Hinds position only after careful consideration with her family.

“I was trying not to move around, to allow my kids to grow up and be there for them and be a part of their life,” Martin-Glass said. “At this point in their life, my son Jalen is going to be a senior in high school and my other son Gerald is going to be graduating, probably in July, from Ole Miss.

“So I talked to them, because I definitely didn’t want to interfere with Jalen’s senior year, and we all came to the conclusion that it would be a good move for me right now, because it doesn’t happen all the time,” Martin-Glass continued.

Martin-Glass said she was thrilled to take on the opportunity

“Sometimes it’s a hard step to go to the next level,” she said. “I’m very happy about it, I know it was a blessing from God.”

In the last two years, Hinds has visited the region tournament both years and even made it to the region championship two years ago.

Last year, the Lady Bulldogs finished with a 16-10 record and had 10 straight wins to start the season.

“Reed went down there and turned the program around and started putting them back on the map and I kind of want to go down there and try to continue what she started,”     Martin-Glass said.

When she originally thought that the Hinds coaching job was going to Banks, Glass contemplated staying with Warren Central for the remainder of career. Now that she’s leaving, Martin-Glass said it was bittersweet.

“Before they offered the job, I had got set in my mind that I was going to continue on here, maybe retire here and just look forward to maybe just finishing out at Warren Central, because like I said, it’s sometimes hard to get the opportunity from a high school,” Martin-Glass said.

“I’ve been at Warren Central for 13 years, 10 years as the head coach and three as an assistant, and for me it’s hard separating from anything I’ve been doing for a long time,” Martin-Glass said. “Change is kind of difficult for me, but I knew I’ve always had this desire to go to the next level and see if I could be successful there.”