Arizona and Adia Barnes head into this offseason seeking a fresh start as two of her assistants, Erin Grant and Ashley Davis, are no longer on staff.
In addition, Julian Mills, the video coordinator, is gone after one season with the Wildcats.
As of Monday afternoon, both Grant and Davis still had UA assistant on their Instagram feeds. However, they have not been on the Wildcatsโ roster page since Sunday. The job openings for the assistant roles have been posted since Thursday.
Over the seven years that Barnes has coached at Arizona, several of her assistants have left for higher-paying assistant roles at other schools in the SEC or even Pac-12. Morgan Valley left for a head-coaching job at Hartford and is now an assistant at her alma mater, UConn.
Itโs not a stretch to think Bett Shelby, the current special assistant to Barnes, will fill one of the assistant vacancies. She was an assistant at West Virginia, Maryland and several other schools.
Erin Grant, center, shown watching while players run a drill during practice at Richard Jefferson Gymnasium in 2021, was one of two assistant coaches let go by Wildcats coach Adia Barnes.
Arizona finished 22-10 โ the fifth consecutive year that the Wildcats have won more than 20 games โ and beat five ranked teams. But with a second straight season ending with a loss in the second round of the NCAA Tournament โ and knowing Barnesโ competitive nature and her desire to bring the program back to the Final Four โ changes were bound to happen.
Already this offseason, four players have officially entered the transfer portal: Lauren Ware, Madi Conner, Paris Clark and Lemyah Hylton. Esmery Martinez has kept her options open for next season by declaring for the WNBA draft with a possibility of entering the portal or returning to the Wildcats. She has until Wednesday, five days before the draft, to remove her name from the pool and more likely than not will do so.
As of Monday, the players returning to the Wildcats are: Helena Pueyo, Maya Nnaji, Kailyn Gilbert and early enrollee Montaya Dew. They will be joined by two others in UAโs highly rated recruiting class: Jada Williams and Breya Cunningham.
Barnes is currently talking to student-athletes in the transfer portal to add to the team. One of the biggest names in the portal was Jayda Curry, former Pac-12 Freshman of the Year at Cal, who announced Monday afternoon on Instagram that she has signed to play at Louisville next season. More top players are adding their names to the portal each day.
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