Jessica McBrayer knows the challenge that lies ahead for her – and she welcomes it.

“I’m excited to step into a program where already there is a standard,” said McBrayer, who has been hired as the new girls basketball coach at 2025 Class 7A runner-up Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa. “I am used to being a builder, but when I first met with the girls the other day, it was very clear that the goal is to win the state championship.

“It’s really cool to step into an environment where there is a high standard. The girls carry themselves with that standard. I’m excited to continue that and also to elevate it and get that first state championship with these girls.”

McBrayer comes to Hillcrest after two seasons at Cullman High School following six seasons as women’s head coach at Wallace State Community College in Hanceville, where she compiled a 125-41 record. The Hartselle native was 30-33 at Cullman and replaces Nick Browder, who resigned in April to take the job coaching at Area 5 rival Thompson.

Browder led the Patriots to a 33-3 finish last season, falling to Hoover 51-44 in the state championship game. He was 129-34 in five seasons at Hillcrest.

McBrayer and her husband, Michael – who retired as the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency’s Highway Patrol Chief – have two daughters. Kinsey, 21, recently graduated from Wallace State and has gone to work at a salon in Huntsville and Brantley will be a freshman at Hillcrest.

“I loved coaching at Wallace State,” said McBrayer, who played there and was an assistant before taking the head coaching job. “It was my first coaching job ever. I felt like it would be the place where I retired. My husband is from Cullman and Cullman called me and asked if I would be interested. My daughter (Brantley) was going into the seventh grade and it was a family decision. It made sense to step away from college to coach her and spend time with her at that age.”

“It’s a real honor and privilege and one that I embrace with great purpose of carrying on,” McBrayer said of her new position. “Hillcrest reached out when Nick took the job over at Thompson. (Athletic director) Brad Armstrong gave me a call and asked if I’d be interested. There are probably only a handful of jobs I’d be interested in and Hillcrest is definitely one of them.

“I met with the administration and they are simply incredible. Hillcrest is a basketball school with so much of legacy and tradition on both sides, boys and girls. It was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.”

Hillcrest’s girls made back-to-back state title games in 2024 and ’25, falling to Hazel Green in the Class 6A championship before moving up to 7A last season. The Patriots handed Hoover one of its four losses with a regular-season win on Jan. 20.

The Patriots face Thompson, Prattville and Tuscaloosa County in area play.

“At Cullman,” McBrayer said, “we were an average basketball team, but we played an unreal schedule. I love a challenge. You can’t be what you can’t see. My girls at Cullman were never scared of a fight. When we played Clay-Chalkville in the regional, we were ready for it. I’m excited to be in a place where night-in, night-out you’re playing the toughest competition in the state. If you’re going to compete, there is no way better than to compete against the best.”