Mark Adams
Mark Adams (born May 14, 1956)
Current position: Assistant men’s basketball coach
Current team: East Carolina Pirates (Head coach: Michael Schwartz)
Current conference: American Athletic Conference (AAC, The American)
Teams coached: Wayland Baptist Pioneers, West Texas A&M Buffaloes, Texas-Pan American Broncs, Texas Tech Red Raiders
Wayland Baptist record: 100-39 (.719)
West Texas A&M record: 110-40 (.730)
Texas-Pan American record: 44-90 (.328)
Texas Tech record: 43-25 (.632)
Overall record^: 297-194 (.605)
Career Accomplishments:
- NCAA National Championships: 0
- NCAA Tournament Appearances: 1 (2022)
- NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen: 1 (2022)
- NCAA Tournament Final Four: 0
- NIT Championships: 0
- NIT Appearances: 0
- Lonestar (Div II) Regular Season Champion: 1 (1991)
- Lonestar (Div II) Tournament Champion: 2 (1990, 1991)
- NCAA Division II Tournament Appearances: 2 (1990, 1991)
- NAIA Division I National Championships: 0 (Runner-up in 1985)
- NAIA Division I Tournament Appearances: 2 (1985, 1986, 1987)
Awards:
- Jim Phelan Award: 1 (2022)
Coaching Career (head coach, unless noted):
| 2023-present | East Carolina (asst) |
| 2021-2023 | Texas Tech |
| 2019-2021 | Texas Tech (assoc. HC) |
| 2016-2019 | Texas Tech (asst) |
| 2015-2016 | Little Rock (asst) |
| 2013-2015 | Texas Tech (DBO) |
| 2004-2013 | Howard College |
| 1992-1997 | Texas-Pan American |
| 1987-1992 | West Texas A&M |
| 1983-1987 | Wayland Baptist |
| 1981-1982 | Clarendon College |
Mark Adams Facts
- Mark Adams
- Born May 14, 1956
- Hometown: Brownfield, Texas
- Alma Mater: Texas Tech University (BA, 1979)
- Graduated from Brownfield HS (TX) just outside of Lubbock and went to Texas Tech, the hometown school
- Started his coaching career at Clarendon College (TX), then spent four years as head coach at NAIA Wayland Baptist (TX)
- Took WBU to three NAIA Tournaments, finishing as Runner-up in 1985, and went 100-39 overall as head coach
- Hired in 1987 to take over at West Texas A&M, going 110-40 in five seasons and appearing in the D-II NCAA Tournament twice
- Moved up to Division I in 1992, spending the next five years as the head coach at UT-Pan American (now known as UTRGV)
- Was just 44-90 at UTPA, only finishing above .500 once and going just 3-25 in his final season (1996-97)
- In 2004, Adams became the head coach at Howard College (NJCAA) in Big Springs, TX; won 233 games over nine seasons
- Won the NJCAA National Championship in 2010 and was named NCJAA National Coach of the Year
- Hired by Tubby Smith in 2013 to be director of basketball operations at his alma mater, Texas Tech
- Joined Chris Beard‘s staff as an assistant coach at Little Rock in 2015, then followed him back to Tech a year later
- Spent five years under Beard at Texas Tech, getting elevated to associate head coach in 2019
- Played a key role with four NCAA Tournament teams (three at TTU), including the Red Raiders’ 2019 National Runner-up finish
- In April 2021, following Beard’s departure to Texas, Adams was elevated to head coach at Texas Tech
- Went 27-10 in his first season, reaching the Sweet Sixteen in the 2022 NCAA Tournament
- Adams was suspended in March 2023 following allegations that he had made an inappropriate, unacceptable, and racially insensitive remark to a player the week prior
- Several days later, despite the remark being deemed unintentional, Adams announced his resignation
- Hired in July 2023 to be an assistant at East Carolina under head coach Michael Schwartz
Mark Adams Coaching Tree
- Rick Cooper (Wayland Baptist, West Texas A&M)
- Talvin Hester (Louisiana Tech)
- Kevin Johnson (Southern, Centenary)
^ overall record includes head coaching positions at the NCAA Division I, Division II and NAIA levels only