Former Gamecock lands head coaching job in North Carolina, reports say
A former Gamecock has a new college head coaching job.
Olivia Gaines will be the next women’s basketball coach at North Carolina Central, according to Thursday reports from HBCU Gameday and USA Today Sports.
Gaines, who played two seasons under coach Dawn Staley, was most recently the head coach at Allen University in Columbia. She was fired from that role March 19 despite posting back-to-back winning seasons with the Division II school.
The NC Central job will be an upgrade for Gaines, as the Eagles are a Division I school with access to the NCAA Tournament. NC Central, based in Durham, North Carolina, is an HBCU competing in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC).
Gaines was 36-19 (.654) overall at Allen and 29-14 (.674) in conference play before the school parted ways with her in March.
A native of Chester, South Carolina, Gaines played point guard in college and started her career at Louisburg College in North Carolina. She was an All American and the JUCO player of the year there before transferring to USC, where she played two seasons under Staley from 2013-15 and reached the Final Four.
Before joining Allen, Gaines worked as an assistant coach at Georgia Southern, the head coach at two junior colleges including USC Salkehatchie and a high school women’s basketball coach at three different South Carolina schools.
Gaines joins an NC Central program that’s struggled since moving up to the Division I level starting with the 2008 season. The Eagles have only won 29.3% of their games since moving to the NCAA’s top level and gone through four different coaches.
Why was Olivia Gaines fired from Allen?
Gaines described Allen as her “dream job” when she was hired and immediately produced back-to-back winning seasons in Staley’s backyard, generating a lot of excitement for her program going forward.
This year’s Allen team placed two players on the all-conference second team, and the Yellow Jackets’ 18 wins and 16 conference wins were both program records in the NCAA era. (Allen competed at the non-NCAA NAIA level prior to 2021.)
Two weeks after Allen’s season ended, though, the university fired Gaines. In an emailed notice to the campus community, Allen said it was “grateful” for Gaines’ contributions “but has decided to move in a different direction.”
“The priority remains providing a positive and competitive environment for our student athletes both on and off the court,” the university said in an email obtained by WIS News. “Allen is committed to continuing the growth and success of the program, and a search for new leadership will begin immediately.”
The university never publicized the coaching change on its university website, athletics website or social media channels. As of Friday, Allen hasn’t announced a new head women’s basketball coach to replace Gaines.
This story was originally published May 8, 2026 at 10:14 AM with the headline "Former Gamecock lands head coaching job in North Carolina, reports say."
