Adia Barnes locks up UA coaching staff, adding longtime West Coast assistant Anthony Turner

It’s official: Adia Barnes’ coaching staff is set for next season.

Last month, Bett Shelby slid over from her role as special assistant to the coach into one of the open assistant coaching spots for the Arizona women's basketball team.

On Friday, Anthony Turner filled the other spot.

Turner has Pac-12 experience and knows West Coast basketball. He’s coming in from Weber State and has had stops at Oregon State, Boise State, San Diego State, UNLV, New Mexico and Utah Valley. He started his career as a student assistant at Colorado.

“Anthony has a tremendous amount of experience, has a really good basketball mind, a hard-working recruiter and a great person,” Barnes said.

All things that were important for Barnes. Still, this time around filling her assistant roles, Barnes was looking for much more. That’s why, in addition to the usual due diligence, Turner came to Tucson and was involved in some individual training with the Wildcats.

“When he came here and spent some time with us (Barnes, Shelby and UA assistant Salvo Coppa), he was a good balance because we are all very different,” Barnes said. “He’s been a West Coast guy for many years. He had a lot of great connections on the West Coast. I've seen him work on the court. I saw him interact with our players, and they really liked him.

"I thought he’d be a really good fit. A family guy, which goes along with our family and our culture. A great faith-based guy with a really good foundation of values. ... He was aligned with me.”

Shelby, who Barnes called “one of the hardest working coaches in the country,” was an easy call to move into the other assistant position. Barnes had seen the value Shelby brought to the staff last season and said it was a “no-brainer” to ask Shelby to move into the assistant role.

Shelby took on whatever needed to be done, no matter what the task was.

“That's the type of coach that you want,” Barnes said. “A coach that is willing to do whatever it takes and whatever you need. One that fills in different areas and who was humble and would do that.”

Shelby brings a lot of experience from serving as an assistant at Maryland, West Virginia, North Carolina, Virginia Tech and other spots. One of her main strengths has been recruiting. Barnes saw that up close competing over top players prior to Shelby coming to Tucson.

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“There's a tremendous amount of value having Bett out on the road,” Barnes said. “She's a great evaluator. … I would have been doing a disservice to the program if I wouldn’t have put her in the coaching role. Her on the road recruiting really helps us.

"She has a tremendous amount of connections, and she’s recruited across the country. There’s a tremendous amount of value with that. Then, on the court, she brings experience, she brings energy — something we were missing.”

That experience counts. No one on this staff has less than 15 years of coaching on their résumés. In the past, Barnes has taken on younger coaches to give them the opportunity to learn from her and Coppa, who has won championships and gold medals internationally.

After the 2022-23 season ended, Barnes parted ways with former assistants Erin Grant and Ashley Davis, who had both been with the Wildcats for two seasons. Grant landed as an assistant at West Virginia, while Davis returned to Oklahoma State, where she was before joining Barnes' staff. 

“I knew it was time for change,” Barnes said. “I knew I was going to make some changes to the roster, and it was really necessary to make changes on the staff too. We’ve upgraded in every position.”

Barnes also shared that she has hired a new video coordinator, Kyle Hutson, who is a UA alum. He has worked for the NBA and most recently was a director of video and analytics at Columbia University.

Barnes said he is a “guru in analytics and a great basketball mind.”

Lauren Flaum has joined the Wildcats from Tulane as director of operations.

Barnes still has a few openings to fill, including the graduate assistants for next season and the special assistant to the coach.