Content Warning: This episode contains mentions of miscarriage and pregnancy loss.
This week on The IX Sports Podcast College Basketball Edition, hosts Melissa Triebwasser and Michael Waterloo are joined by Southern Methodist University Head Coach Adia Barnes.
Barnes won a WNBA championship with the Seattle Storm in 2004 and went on to play overseas before starting a coaching career.
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At the University of Arizona, Barnes led her 2019 team to a Women’s National Invitational Tournament Championship, In 2021, her team beat the University of Connecticut in the Final Four to advance to the school’s first-ever Championship game in women’s basketball.
Barnes was announced as the head coach at SMU in April 2025. The team went 9-21 in her first season there.
“We’re going to be a lot better this year. We’re going to build it the right way,” she said. This year the team will be young, Barnes said, but better than last year’s.
“So the challenge will be keeping everybody together, keeping everybody happy, and getting those young players experience the balance of how, but winning games and having some older players,” she said.
Triebwasser asked Barnes for her thoughts about the logistics of playing in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC).
“One weekend you’re going to be in the Bay Area, the next weekend you’re going to be in the Research Triangle in North Carolina, contrasted with the style that you want to play, which is fast, up-tempo, and aggressive … there’s really a physical toll that gets taken on you and your players when you’re doing that much cross-country travel,” Triebwasser pointed out.
“I think nowadays it is challenging,” Barnes said, acknowledging that “it is what it is” as far as challenging travel schedules go. Barnes added that she prefers the ACC to the Big 12 — both as far as style of play and the cities her team will play in.
Be sure to tune into the episode to hear more about Barnes’ journey to SMU, her experience guarding Sue Bird in WNBA practice, and more.
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