Former Gamecock Tina Roy wants to build winning program at brand-new high school
Tina Roy is returning to the Palmetto State after a “reset” period back in her home state of Louisiana.
The former South Carolina women’s basketball player is starting a new chapter in her high school coaching career. Roy was tabbed in April as the new girls basketball coach at ALA Blythewood, a new charter school opening up this fall.
Roy told The State this week that the job sort of fell in her lap, but the opportunity to build a program from scratch was too good to pass up.
“I’m building from the ground up, like, it’s my program,” Roy said. “… It’s an opportunity to come back to South Carolina. I feel like a part of me wanted to come back, but I didn’t know where I would be going, then it kind of just fell into my lap.”
Roy had been coaching at her alma mater, Kaplan High School in Louisiana, for the past few years. Roy took the job at Kaplan to get back close to family after over a decade away, she said. Her favorite part was coaching her nieces, who graduated from Kaplan this year. Roy coached the Pirates from 2023-26 and was the Region Coach of the Year in 2023.
“I think I needed it. I had been away from home for like 11 years, and I’m very family oriented,” Roy said of her time at Kaplan. “… It was good to go back and pour into those kids, especially my nieces that played for the team as well. Most of the teachers at the school or teachers who taught me. They became my coworkers. I enjoyed it.”
With her nieces’ time at Kaplan done, Roy figured she’d look for coaching opportunities elsewhere in Louisiana. Roy said she was primed to take another head coaching gig in the state — even though it made her feel like a “traitor” to her alma mater, she joked — before ALA Blythewood reached out to her.
“I was like, ‘God, if it’s meant for me to stay, I’ll get this other job. But if it’s meant for me to leave, then something will happen,’ Roy recalled. “Then literally that morning … I got a message about the [ALA Blythewood] job.”
Roy is looking forward to getting back to South Carolina. She played for Dawn Staley and the Gamecocks from 2011-16. Roy was a sharpshooter who played 134 games for the Gamecocks, primarily off the bench, and averaged 4.7 points, 1.7 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game in her career.
Roy was a member of the 2015 Final Four team and helped South Carolina win three SEC regular- season championships as well as two SEC Tournament titles.
Staley shouted out Roy on social media after news broke of her return to the Midlands. Roy said she’s texted with her former head coach since getting the job and is looking forward to seeing her soon.
“TIN back in Cola! Let’s gooooo!” Staley said on X.
While Roy is tasked with creating her own program at ALA Blythewood, she said much of what she plans to implement stems from her days playing for Staley.
That’s everything from specific plays to the general culture of the program, Roy said.
“If I’m being honest, a lot of my stuff is pretty much most of the things that she taught us,” Roy said. “I always talk about return on investment, that’s what she always taught us. What you put into is what you’re gonna get out of it, so of course I instilled it in my girls. … It’s bigger than just basketball, like just different character traits. Just different things, just being disciplined, being on time, that’s most of the things I learned from playing in college. Once you finish basketball, those characteristics help you in life.”
ALA Blythewood will play a junior varsity schedule in the program’s first year before it adds a varsity schedule the next academic year. The school will be an at-large member of the South Carolina High School League in 2026-27, then apply for full-time membership the following year.
Roy said her goal is to build a strong foundation for the program in year one and she hopes to take a positive step in the right direction each year after that. She likened it to the growth of South Carolina’s program during her time with the Gamecocks.
“We want to win. I mean, I don’t like losing. But I’m also a realist,” Roy said. “… I want to make the playoffs. If I can get us to make the playoffs, then we did something. We did something like we didn’t just fold, if we can make the playoffs. Every year just try to get further and further.”
This story was originally published June 15, 2026 at 8:20 AM.
