Destinee Rogers is blazing a trail every day as the head coach of the Arkansas State women’s basketball program. 

Rogers, the first African-American female head coach at Arkansas State, took over the Red Wolves’ program for the final 18 games of the 2021-22 regular season. On March 13, 2022, she was named the program’s permanent head coach. 

“I’m a firm believer that representation matters,” Rogers said. “It’s a huge deal for African-American women to see African-American women in leadership roles. It’s good for women period to see women in leadership roles. Because if they see someone who looks like them in a leadership role, they’ll think that if I can do it, they can do it too.”

In mid-January last season, Rogers received a package in the mail from University of South Carolina women’s basketball head coach Dawn Staley. Staley, who led her Gamecocks team to the 2017 and 2022 NCAA Championship, has sent a piece of her championship nets to every African-American female women’s basketball head coach in the country. For Rogers, who considers Staley a personal role model, receiving a piece of the net was particularly significant. 

“It was a special moment for me,” Rogers said. “I am a huge fan of hers – I always have been and I always will be. To get a piece of the net was a huge deal to me. She has done a lot as an African-American woman head coach. To see that glass ceiling breaking gives the rest of us motivation that we can someday do that as well. For her to reach down and pull us up is a big deal.”

For Rogers, a native of the Natural State, coaching is in her blood. Her grandfather was a coach and her dad, Ron, is a legendary girls high school and AAU coach in the state of Arkansas. She was a head coach at El Dorado (Ark.) High School before first joining the Red Wolves as an assistant coach. 

The opportunity to be a head coach in her home state is especially meaningful to Rogers, who continues to break barriers and make a difference. 

“I’m born and raised here, and it means a lot to me to get this opportunity to lead Arkansas State,” Rogers said. “We can do special things here. The biggest thing for me is that I want to make sure the kids have a good experience.”