Keitha Adams
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.jpg) Adams with UTEP in 2025 | |
| Current position | |
|---|---|
| Title | Head coach |
| Team | UTEP |
| Conference | C-USA |
| Record | 320–264 (.548) |
| Biographical details | |
| Born | February 13, 1967 Oxford, Kansas |
| Alma mater | Southwestern College |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 1987–1989 | Belle Plaine HS (asst.) |
| 1991–1994 | Winfield HS |
| 1994–1996 | Independence CC (asst.) |
| 1996–2001 | Independence CC |
| 2001–2017 | UTEP |
| 2017–2023 | Wichita State |
| 2023–present | UTEP |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 400–357 (.528) (college) 127–37 (.774) (junior college) |
| Tournaments | 1–2 (NCAA) 8–2 (WNIT) |
Keitha Rachelle Adams (née Green; born February 13, 1967) is an American college basketball coach who is currently the head women's basketball coach at UTEP.[1]
Prior to the 2006–07 season, Adams was known as Keitha Green.[2][3][4]
UTEP (2001–2017)
Adams began her coaching career in 1987 as a girls' basketball assistant coach at Belle Plaine High School in Belle Plaine, Kansas while studying at Southwestern College, from which she would ultimately graduate in 1989.[5] After graduating from Southwestern, Adams joined Winfield High School in Winfield, Kansas and coached softball, volleyball, and track before ultimately settling on basketball full-time in 1991.[6][7]
In 1994, Adams became a women's basketball assistant coach at Independence Community College; she was also a men's and women's tennis coach in the 1994–95 season.[5] Independence promoted Adams to head coach in 1996. In five seasons as head coach, Adams had a cumulative 127–37 record and two Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference titles in 2000 and 2001.[5]
The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) hired Adams as head women's basketball coach on April 20, 2001.[5] Adams coached at UTEP for 16 seasons and accumulated a 284–209 record, three Conference USA regular season titles (2008, 2012, 2016), one C-USA Tournament title (2012), two NCAA tournament appearances (2008 and 2012), and two WNIT appearances (2014 and 2016)—the only such titles and postseason bids in program history.[5]
Following a 24–7 season in 2013–14 and appearance in the 2014 WNIT, UTEP signed Adams to a six-year contract extension.[5]
In her final season as head coach, UTEP went 8–23 season in 2016–17.
At UTEP, Adams created a mentorship program that helped ensure a high graduation rate among her players.[8] Adams is credited with building a successful women's basketball program that also "encourages interaction between players and fans."[9] She was inducted into the El Paso Women's Hall of Fame in 2010.[10] In 2016, she was recognized as the Conference USA Coach of the Year.[11]
Wichita State (2017–2023)
Adams resigned from UTEP[12] to become head coach at Wichita State on March 29, 2017.[13]
UTEP (2023–present)
In 2023, Adams returned as head coach for UTEP.[14]