Adia Barnes

Adia Barnes is the award-winning head coach of the women’s basketball team at the University of Arizona and a former professional basketball player. In college, she played for the University of Arizona Wildcats, where she now coaches; she then went on to play seven seasons in the WNBA, for the Houston Comets, Seattle Storm, Minnesota Lynx, and Sacramento Monarchs. She began her coaching career as assistant coach for the University of Washington Huskies and returned to the Wildcats as head coach in 2016. In 2021, she brought her team to the NCAA Championships, the first time ever for the school. Adia has long advocated for equal rights for women and women of color in basketball and beyond. She brings a lot of heart, love, and joy to the court, and is known for really listening to and empowering her team; she sees her role as a mentor above all else and makes no apologies for always being herself. “My job is to help other women,” she says. “And I’ve been doing it every day.”