Arizona women’s basketball coach Adia Barnes will be part of a prime-time special airing on NBC Saturday night.
“Inspiring America: The 2021 Inspiration List” will profile people who have impacted their communities. The first-ever list includes San Antonio Spurs assistant coach Becky Hammon, chef Jose Andrés, NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace and others. Barnes and NFL agent Nicole Lynn will be included as part of Hammon’s segment, according to a teaser played on Thursday’s “Today” show.
The show airs Saturday at 7 p.m. on Ch. 4, and will replay Saturday at 8 p.m. on Telemundo, Sunday at noon on CNBC and Sunday at 7 p.m. on MSNBC.
Both NBC News NOW and Peacock will have it available to stream.
Barnes led the Wildcats’ women’s basketball team to their first-ever Final Four, and the UA advanced to the national championship game before losing to Stanford.
Barnes gave birth to a baby girl, Capri, in the months before the season began. During the tournament, she spoke often about the role of working mothers and equality in the workplace. Barnes and her husband, Salvo Coppa — the UA’s lead assistant coach — brought both Capri and their son Matteo with them to the NCAA Tournament.
“If you are a breastfeeding mother, how do you leave your kid for that long? Why should you do that?” she said before the tournament. … “Some women don’t have the choice. If you don’t have family to help you or are a single mom, you can’t do your job. We are women’s basketball, and we should support women.”
The “Today” show’s Savannah Guthrie, an Amphitheater High School and UA graduate, will co-host Saturday’s special alongside Hoda Kotb and Lester Holt. Barnes filmed her segment from McKale Center weeks ago.
