According to multiple reports, UTEP women’s basketball head coach Keith Adams has been interviewed for the women’s basketball head coaching vacancy at Wichita State University, in her home state of Kansas.
Adams, who has been at UTEP since 2001, is the most successful coach in the history of UTEP women’s basketball with a 284-209 record and six 20-win seasons. She is a three-time Conference-USA Coach of the Year.
Under Adams’ guidance, the Miners have made NCAA tournament appearances in 2008 and 2012. Her team won three regular season C-USA championships (2008, 2012, 2016) and also appeared in the WNIT twice (2014, 2016), including a memorable run to the 2014 WNIT finals that landed her a six-year contract extension.
Adams is from Oxford, Kansas, about a forty-minute drive from the campus of Wichita State, where she had her high school jersey retired in 1986. Adams began her coaching career at Independence Community College in Kansas and is still a huge recruiter of Kansas players with both junior forward Ax Bernard and junior forward Tamara Seda having transferred from Seward Community College in Kansas.
Adams is not commenting on the situation, but UTEP Athletic Director Bob Stull released a statement shortly after news broke of Adams’ interview:
“Wichita State athletic department officials have reached out to coach Adams, expressing interest in her as a candidate for their head coach vacancy. Coach Adams has been extremely successful at UTEP and, as a result, has been contacted by multiple schools in recent years. We are fortunate that she has elected to stay at UTEP to this point, and we hope to keep her here.”
In 2008, Adams interviewed for the head coaching vacancy with a reported five other candidates at University of Nevada, Las Vegas, but was not hired.
So far, only one other name has emerged for the vacancy at Wichita State, that being Lane Lord, head coach of Division II Pittsburg State. In 10 seasons at Pitt State, Lord is 208-95.
Wichita State is filling the vacancy left by the departure of head coach Jody Adams-Birch in January. Adams-Birch had been with the Shockers for nine years and led the team to three NCAA Tournament appearances.
