After a successful high school coaching career Mays took over the Tennessee Tech baseball program in 1974, guiding the Golden Eagles through the 1998 season. In those 25 seasons Mays compiled 554 victories, which ranks as the fourth most in OVC history.
Mays coached three All-Americans, six all-region selections, three OVC Players of the Year, one OVC Pitcher of the Year and 59 student-athletes who earned All-OVC distinction. His players also performed well in the classroom, as Mays coached three Academic All-Americans and three OVC Scholar-Athletes. Five of his players went on to earn induction into the Tennessee Tech Hall of Fame.
Mays was named OVC Coach of the Year in 1986, 1988, 1993, 1996 and 1997 and led the Golden Eagles to a 39-23 record and OVC regular season and tournament championship in 1997, along with a victory over Ohio State in the NCAA Regionals. In 1997 he was inducted into the East Tennessee baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the TTU Hall of Fame in 2005.
A native of Knoxville, Tenn., Mays was a four-year letterman at Carson-Newman College where he was a starter on the 1965 NAIA national championship team and captained the squad a year later