Arkansas State men’s basketball head coach Ryan Pannone announced Thursday the hiring of Ashton Hopp to his 2025-26 staff as Director of Operations.
Hopp – who joins her husband Zachary Hopp on the A-State staff – comes to Jonesboro after spending the previous three seasons on the Ole Miss women’s basketball staff, including this past year as special assistant to the head coach. The two years prior, she served as a graduate assistant for the Rebels. During each of her three seasons in Oxford, the Rebels won 22-plus games with a total of 71 wins and three NCAA Tournament berths, twice reaching the Sweet 16.
“Ashton Hopp also comes to us from Ole Miss and is going to help make this program run smoothly,” Pannone said. “Her organization and dedication of being proactive instead of reactive with the problems that come up within running a college program is immensely valuable. Her day-to-day ability to keep us running efficiently and effectively as an organization is key. When I was looking at somebody for this position, I wanted somebody that had a great feel of logistics and was a problem solver that would be proactive in the things that were to come ahead. She has experienced not only working at Ole Miss, but she played college basketball and was a manager at Kansas under Bill Self. She’s done an amazing job creating different organizations, such as Grow the Game, that help produce and help young coaches create a career within this business.”
As a graduate assistant, Hopp helped develop and build the undergraduate student manager program. She also assisted the coordinator of operations with all daily duties of the program. Additionally, Hopp oversaw all equipment and gear for the Rebels.
A former student manager for the Kansas men’s basketball program, Hopp spent two seasons with the national power Jayhawks. There, she helped with all food, equipment, travel, and practice operations among other duties.
In 2020, Hopp co-founded Grow the Game with former Clemson men’s basketball manager Jake Cerota. Grow the Game provides college basketball student managers with free resources as well as professional development and networking opportunities to kickstart their careers. Those resources include the Manager Connection, Graduate Assistant Pathway, Summer Development cohorts, Final Four events and more.
The Waynesville, Mo., native graduated from the University of Mississippi in 2024 with a master’s degree in integrated marketing communication. She completed her bachelor’s degree from the University of Kansas in 2021 with a degree in sport management and a minor in business.
