UA’s women’s basketball coach leaves alma mater behind for SMU

TUCSON – The Adia Barnes Era of women’s basketball at Arizona came to an end on Saturday.

The UA alum, who had coached the program for nine seasons and took it to within a basket of winning a national championship in 2021, is leaving Tucson to become the new head coach at Southern Methodist.

“We are happy to welcome Adia to the Mustang family,” new Mustangs athletics director Damon Evans said. “She has had great success at Arizona, leading her teams to post-season appearances and 20-win seasons while her teams also set records in the classroom. She has landed stellar recruiting classes and has been heavily involved in the Tucson community, showing her talent for building programs. The future is bright for SMU Women’s Basketball. We welcome Adia, her husband, Salvo, her son, Matteo, and her daughter, Capri, to Dallas and look forward to the next chapter in Mustang basketball history.”

Barnes inherited a program at Arizona that was near the bottom of the Pac-12 standings and led the Wildcats to five straight 20-win seasons. UA missed the NCAA Tournament in 2024-25 but qualified for the post-season (WBIT), the seventh straight year they have done so.

UA won the NIT in 2019, the program’s first time in the post-season after a ten-year abscence.

Barnes went 169-114 overall at UA and finished 78-81 in conference play.

The last several years however have seen a mass exodus of players from the program, including top recruit Maya Nnaji who left the team during the mid-point of the 2023-24 season to focus on a difficult academic track.

Three players, Aaronette Vonleh, Madison Conner and Gisela Sanchez transferred and contributed on teams that made the Sweet 16 this past season.

Had Barnes remained in Tucson she was facing a complete rebuild of her roster. Seven players from this past season’s team have entered the transfer portal including the core three (Jada Williams, Breya Cunningham and Skylar Jones) from her highly-ranked 2022 recruiting class.

Arizona Athletics Director Desireé Reed-Francois released this statement upon SMU’s announcement of Barnes’ hiring.

“On behalf of the University of Arizona community, I want to thank Adia for her nine seasons as our head coach and her profound impact on Arizona Women’s Basketball. She helped elevate our program and created lifetime memories for our student-athletes, coaches and fans. We wish Adia, Salvo, Matteo and Capri all the best in the future. Our national search for a new head coach is already underway, and I am confident that our candidate pool will be strong. We have a championship history and a proud tradition; we have incredibly passionate fans and donors who want success; we have a strong commitment to basketball excellence and championships from our university and our department; we compete in one of the nation’s top conferences; and we have an unwavering desire to be great. I look forward to welcoming our new head coach!”

UA Athletics Director Desireé Reed-Francois

Two potential candidates for the job, UNLV’s Lindy La Rocque and Maryland’s Brenda Frese (UA ’92) both sent out messages on Twitter Saturday afternoon indicating that they were completely happy staying at their current locations.

Copyright 2025 Wildcats Radio 1290. All rights reserved.