Adia Barnes

Adia Oshun Barnes (born February 3, 1977) is an American basketball coach and former player. As of 2025–26 she is the head coach of the SMU Mustangs. She played at the collegiate level for the University of Arizona, and played seven seasons in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) with the Houston Comets, Seattle Storm, Minnesota Lynx, and Sacramento Monarchs. She has played internationally with Dynamo Kyiv in Ukraine. Barnes has also served as a TV color analyst for Seattle Storm game broadcasts.

Early years Barnes grew up in San Diego, California, and attended Mission Bay Senior High School in San Diego. Over the course of her high school career, she amassed 1112 blocks, the most ever recorded by a female high school basketball player, 253 blocks ahead of second place Chris Enger.

In 2000 she traded to Cleveland, and saw her playing time dwindle. She played overseas to work on her skills and concentrated on becoming a specialist.

In 2002, she was traded to the Seattle Storm, who were picked to finish second to last in their division. With Sue Bird and Lauren Jackson on the team, Storm coach Lin Dunn wasn't looking for a scorer, so Barnes concentrated on becoming a shut-down defender. Her work effort paid off, and she helped the team to make the playoffs in only their third year of existence.

After a fairly rough start to her coaching career, Barnes entered her third season with the Wildcats, with high hopes. The team began the year 12–1, but ultimately struggled when it came to Pac-12 conference play. After finishing the regular season with 17 wins, their most in the regular season since 2010–11, Arizona entered the conference tournament as the No. 8 seed, knocking off USC to begin tournament play. The Wildcats would finish the year 18–13, before ultimately being selected for the Women's National Invitation Tournament.

The Wildcats guided by Barnes, would make it to the WNIT Final, knocking off Northwestern to become the 2019 WNIT Champions.

The Wildcats beat Indiana in 2021 to reach the school's first ever Final Four.

On April 2, 2021, the Wildcats beat the University of Connecticut Huskies to reach the school's first NCAA tournament championship game.

SMU As of the 2025–26 season, Barnes is head coach of the SMU Mustangs women's basketball team.

Career statistics

College Source