Posted by Jon Wang on Aug 18, 2017
Adia Barnes was introduced as Arizona's head women's basketball coach on April 4, 2016. The leading scorer in Arizona women’s basketball history and a WNBA Champion, Barnes came to Tucson after serving as an assistant coach at the University of Washington for five seasons.
Barnes led the Wildcats to a 14-16 record in her first year at the helm with a 5-13 Pac-12 record. 14 wins is the most since the 2011-12 season and five conference wins is the most in the Pac-12 era for the Wildcats.
 
Known as a stellar recruiter, Barnes brought in five recruits for the 2017 class, which was ranked 30th in the country. Those five include Kiana Chew, Sam Fatkin, Marlee Kyles, Sam Thomas and Mallory Vaughn. Of those five signees, four of them were rated three stars by ESPN.com and Thomas was rated four stars. Four of the five signees were named Player of the Year in their respective states. Additionally to her success on the court and in recruiting in 2017, Barnes made it a point to get better in the classroom and in the community. The Wildcats had their best academic semester in a decade and also led the athletic department in community service hours.
 
Barnes joined the staff at Washington in 2011 and helped boost the Huskies profile in the Pac-12 and nationally, culminating in a trip to the Final Four this year. After three seasons on staff, Barnes was promoted to recruiting coordinator, where she handled all aspects of recruiting including budget, compliance and planning, in addition to her role in player development.
 
A three-time all-conference selection and '98 graduate of Arizona, Barnes was voted USBWA first-team All-American and Pac-10 player of the year in 1997-98. Her 2,237 career points currently rank ninth on the Pac-12’s all-time scoring list. Following her collegiate career, Barnes played professionally for 12 seasons in the WNBA and overseas. She won a WNBA Championship with the Seattle Storm in 2004, was named to the Storm’s All-Decade Team, and also played for Cleveland, Minnesota and Sacramento. Her overseas career included stops in the Ukraine, Israel, Turkey, Russia and Italy.
In addition to her playing and coaching career, Barnes has been extremely active in the community through the Adia Barnes Foundation, which mentors under-served youth and conducts charitable events and community service projects such as school supply drives. Barnes spent 10 years as the Seattle Storm’s TV analyst for NBA TV and FOX Sports Northwest and also spent time as the color commentator for Storm radio broadcasts.
 
A native of San Diego, Calif., Barnes is married to Salvo Coppa, who coached for 14 seasons, including 10 professionally in Italy and with three separate national teams. She is also the mother of one son, Matteo.
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