Coach Adia Barnes Drops A Nuke On Arizona WBB Program After Accepting Job At SMU

Adia Barnes was officially introduced as the head women's basketball coach at SMU on Thursday — but not before she dropped a nuke on her former school.

Barnes coached at Arizona, her alma mater, for eight seasons before making the move to SMU earlier this month. On Tuesday night, the former WNBA champion hopped on an Arizona Women's Basketball Facebook group to thank the fans for their support over the years.

Well, that and to dunk on Arizona for being poor and having no NIL money.

"We changed Arizona WBB and put it on the map," Barnes wrote. "I came to Arizona when it was the lowest paying job in the P5. No one could recruit talent to Tucson, the program was a mess. 

"We changed things. We were relentless recruiters… We won a ton with limited resources. Now that there is the portal, you cannot sustain success without resources. So, naturally, you will lose 5-7 players per year when they don’t get paid."

Adia Barnes spent eight seasons as head coach of the Arizona Wildcats.

(Photo by Andrew Wevers/Getty Images)

To make matters worse for the Wildcats, Barnes is taking a number of Arizona's players and recruits with her to Dallas.

SIGN UP for The Daily OutKick. New Look, Same Attitude.

Three former Wildcats — Mailien Rolf and Paulina Paris, as well as former four-star recruit Sahnya Jah — have committed to join Barnes at SMU. Further, two 2025 Arizona commits, Roxy White and Jazzy Gipson, have flipped to the Mustangs.

In fact, as it stands, only one player remains on Arizona's roster.

Adia Barnes played for Arizona from 1994-1998 and is the program’s all-time leading scorer. She averaged 21.8 points per game to lead the Pac-12 as a senior. After a playing career in the WNBA, Barnes took over as head coach of a struggling Arizona program in 2016. 

She posted five-straight 20-win seasons starting in her third year, one of which included a run to the Final Four. Her Wildcats won the WNIT in 2019.