SMU Women’s Basketball Head Coach Adia Barnes has named Salvo Coppa, Bett Shelby, Anthony Turner and Kamiko Williams as assistant coaches ahead of the 2025-26 season.
Coppa, Shelby, Turner and Williams worked with Barnes at Arizona and were all on her staff last season. Salvo, Barnes’ husband, has spent the previous nine seasons as an assistant coach at Arizona, while Shelby joined the staff in 2022 and was promoted to assistant coach in 2023. Turner arrived in Tucson as an assistant coach in 2023 and Williams joined the staff in 2024.
The experienced staff brings a surplus of professional and collegiate-level coaching experience.
// SALVO COPPA – Assistant Coach
Coppa was on Barnes’ staff for the entirety of her tenure at Arizona beginning in 2016.
Coppa’s professional experience includes coaching Italian First Division (A1), National teams in Europe and Asia and NCAA Division I college basketball. He has won three gold medals with three different teams. In seven seasons as the associate head coach of Trogylos Priolo, a professional club in Italian Division 1, he coached WNBA All-Star Tari Phillips. He also coached Michelle Greco, Kristine Haynie and Florina Pascalau, who all played in the WNBA.
As the top assistant, Coppa was a key factor in Arizona’s success over the past nine seasons, which includes six straight postseason appearances and five straight 20-win seasons, highlighted by an impressive run to the NCAA Championship Game in 2021.
As the head coach of Ecocontrol Priolo in 2010, he won the B Italian Championship with an 18-2 record. He brought several regional championships home and reached the Italian State Finals twice as the head coach of Trogylos Priolo U-19 and U-17 teams.
Coppa’s first collegiate opportunity was at Montana State, where he served as an assistant coach in the 2013-14 season. He was in charge of opponent scouting, skill development of guards, and was the defensive coach.
Prior to working at Montana State, Coppa spent a year as a skill development coach for the two-time World Champion Seattle Storm in the WNBA and as a consultant to the head coach Brian Agler.
Before Coppa started coaching in the United States, he was the head coach of the Thailand Women’s National Team, which won the Gold Medal at the Southeast Asian Games in 2011.
Coppa was the associate head coach for Trogylos Priolo from 2003-10. He helped lead the team to five playoff appearances, which included one playoff final appearance, one semifinal appearance, and three quarterfinal appearances. He also helped lead the team to the quarterfinals of the FIBA Cup in 2006.
In 2010, Coppa was the head coach for the Sicilia Women’s Basketball Team, who won the Gold Medal at the Fiba Island Games in Portugal.
Coppa was also the head coach for the Malta Women’s U18 Team. During his time there, he led Malta to the Gold Medal at the European Championship C in 2007.
Coppa is married to head coach Adia Barnes, and has one son, Matteo and one daughter, Capri. His father is the European legend of women’s basketball, Coach Santino Coppa.
// BETT SHELBY – Assistant Coach
Shelby has been a part of Barnes’ coaching staff since the 2022-23 season. She has been coaching at the collegiate level for over 15 years and spent three seasons as the top assistant at West Virginia prior to her time in Arizona.
She began her time in Tucson as a special assistant to the head coach before being named an Assistant Coach in April 2023.
During her time in Morgantown, Shelby helped guide WVU to success on the court that included a banner 2020-21 season of 22 wins, a second-place finish in the Big 12 and an NCAA Tournament appearance.
Shelby coached at North Carolina and Maryland prior to West Virginia, where she was also the Tar Heels’ and Terrapins’ recruiting coordinator. Her prior stops include Virginia Tech and Seton Hall where she had achieved success on the court and on the recruiting trail with a top-20 recruiting class with the Hokies and record-breaking BIG EAST wins with the Pirates.
Shelby broke into the college basketball coaching ranks as the Director of Operations at East Carolina following her playing career. The Charlotte, North Carolina native played two seasons at UNC Wilmington before transferring to Greensboro College, where she led the Pride to regular season and conference tournament titles and a NCAA Tournament appearance. She graduated from Greensboro with a bachelor’s degree in sports and exercise studies with a concentration in coaching in 2006. Shelby is the daughter of Brad and Texie and has a sister named Mary.
// ANTHONY TURNER – Assistant Coach
Turner has been a part of Barnes’s staff since May of 2023 and joined after coaching four seasons at Weber State.
He arrived at Weber State after spending three seasons at Utah Valley. His responsibilities at Utah Valley included serving as the associate head coach.
Prior to his time at Utah Valley, Turner spent five years as an assistant coach at New Mexico. While with the Lobos, Turner served as the primary recruiting coordinator. Players that Turner recruited to New Mexico accounted for six first team All-MWC awards, two All-Defense awards, two All-Freshman awards, one sixth player award and the 2019 MWC Player of the Year.
Turner was selected to participate in the NCAA BCA/ACE program in 2011. This highly selective and prestigious program selects 24 minority assistant coaches in basketball, 12 women’s basketball assistants and 12 men’s basketball assistants and trains them at the NCAA headquarters, with the purpose of preparing them to become successful head coaches.
Before serving at New Mexico, Turner spent a season with Boise State, two seasons with Oregon State, six years with UNLV and two years with San Diego State.
Turner has amassed more than 20 years of experience coaching and assisting with women’s basketball programs in the West. He is a 2008 graduate of the University of Colorado. He and his wife, Jaime, have twin daughters, Alexis and Justice.
// KAMIKO WILLIAMS – Assistant Coach
Williams joined Barnes’ coaching staff at Arizona in August of 2024 as a special assistant to the head coach after serving as an academic coach at Tennessee during the 2023-24 season.
Prior to her time with Tennessee, she was an admissions counselor at Lincoln Memorial University. While at Lincoln Memorial, she helped with managing applications and enrollment and traveled to events and college fairs to help recruit students.
Williams brings a wealth of coaching experience to the Hilltop. Most recently, she was an assistant coach at Weber State from 2022-23, a role that saw her assist with operations and tasks to help the head coach.
Prior to Weber State, she was an assistant coach at Nicholls State for one season (2021-22) where she assisted with overseeing academic advising.
Williams spent three years at Monmouth as an assistant coach with the Hawks from 2018-2021. She was the program’s recruiting director during that time. She additionally spent two of her three seasons at Monmouth as director of operations, serving in the role for the 2018-19 and 2020-21 seasons. Williams got her start in coaching as an assistant coach at New Haven, where she worked from 2015-18.
Prior to coaching, Williams was drafted in 2013 by the New York Liberty and played in the league for one season. Before her professional career, she played collegiately for Tennessee under legendary head coach Pat Summit. During her time in Knoxville, she went to four NCAA Tournaments and advanced to the Elite Eight in three. Williams graduated from Tennessee with a B.A. in Sociology in 2012.
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