The first Adia Barnes radio shows were staged at The Cellar in the UAβs Student Union. Could you get a more fitting location for a womenβs basketball program that had spent a decade in the Pac-12βs basement?
βWe had maybe 10 people show up,β Barnes says, shaking her head. βReally. Ten.β
Now, three years later at a beer-and-barbecue place on North Stone Avenue, every table in a spacy dining area and most of the seats at a 30-yard long bar are full before βThe Adia Barnes Showβ goes on the air.
At Mondayβs radio show, the fourth-year Arizona coach sat next to junior point guard Aari McDonald, who has become the most captivating athlete on campus. The Adia and Aari Show has been almost too good to be true. The Wildcats have drawn crowds of 14,664 (a sellout) and 10,160 at McKale Center.
The team that once lodged in The Cellar is now ranked No. 16 nationally.
βCan you believe that?β asked Barnes, who spent part of her radio program discussing the possibility of McKale Center being a host of the first and second rounds of this yearβs NCAA Tournament.
Again, can you believe that?
Little things have become big things.
βI asked if we could get (free) parking on the mall, and we got it,β says Barnes. βThe size of our pep band has doubled. Those things help you win games.β
In her trips to the grocery store, or to Walmart, Barnes notices people looking at her.
βIt was like, βWhat are they looking at? Do I have something on my face?ββ she says. βIt surprises me sometimes.β
A few weeks ago, someone told Barnes that Arizona athletic director Dave Heeke was going to accompany the Wildcats on a long road trip to Washington State and Washington, even though her club wasnβt able to fly on time-saving charter planes.
Barnes was taken aback. βI said, βHe is?β I mean, he ate dinner with us, had ice cream with us, sat in the airport for a couple of hours with us.β
Barnes looks into the growing crowds at McKale Center and often spots UA president Bobby Robbins. βHeβs even there at some nonconference games,β she says. βYou donβt expect these things to happen.β
One of those who follows Barnesβ team is Jerry Holmes, the master recruiter for Fred Snowdenβs Arizona basketball teams when McKale Center opened in 1972. Holmes was an up-close witness to the rise of Tucson as a basketball city, and he sees it again in Barnesβ program.
βA woman is soon going to be the head coach of a menβs basketball team, no doubt about it,β says Holmes. βAdia could do it. I donβt know if she wants to coach a menβs team, but sheβs got the personality and the recruiting ability to do it.β
To the relief of the growing legion of those in the UA womenβs basketball audience, Barnes does not want to coach a menβs team.
βI prefer to coach women,β she says, and then laughs, saying βguys donβt listen at all; they just want to go one-on-one.β Barnes has no interest in the one-and-done concept of menβs basketball, re-making a roster year to year.
βYou canβt mold the guys into a team,β she says. βI donβt know if the womenβs game will ever get to that.β
Two years ago, Colorado State had serious discussions with former CSU basketball player Becky Hammon, gauging her interest in becoming the first womenβs coach of a D-1 menβs team. Hammon chose to stay on Greg Popovichβs coaching staff with the San Antonio Spurs.
Last summer, Cal womenβs basketball coach Lindsay Gottlieb left the Pac-12 to become an assistant coach for the NBAβs Cleveland Cavaliers. The Toronto Raptors soon hired Brittni Donaldson to be an assistant coach, the fifth woman hired by the NBA in the last year.
Barnesβ transformational work at Arizona reflects the growing respect for female coaches. It probably wonβt be long until an athletic director successfully persuades an Adia Barnes or a Lindsay Gottlieb to change the identity of a Division I menβs team.
But for the here and now, entering Fridayβs showdown at McKale Center against No. 8 UCLA, itβs all about beating the Bruins, one step at a time, resetting the timetable for success.
βI thought it would take us six years to get to this point,β Barnes says.
How did this happen? Mostly because Barnes has won the living room battles during recruiting season.
That is a strength. Sheβs engaging, a connector. She has recruited so well, turning Arizona from a 6-24 team two years ago to a Top 25 program now.
But thereβs more to it than recruiting. In an interesting juxtaposition, Barnesβ husband, Salvo Coppa, sits in the No. 2 chair, a highly respected and experienced coach, an Xβs and Oβs and skills-development specialist whose background includes head coaching duties in Europe and Asia. He has also worked in the WNBA and at Montana State.
βHis aspirations werenβt to be an assistant coach,β Barnes says, breaking into a smile. But theyβve come together to make it work.
At Arizona, thereβs a lot of that going around.