Natasha Adair has been named the new Associate Head Coach of the Syracuse University Women’s Basketball program and joined Felisha Legette-Jack‘s staff. Adair spent the past three seasons as the head coach at Arizona State and previously served as head coach at Delaware, Georgetown, and the College of Charleston.
“We are excited to have Natasha Adair join our Orange Family,” Legette-Jack said. “She has a plethora of experience. She’s a 15-year head coaching veteran with experience from high and mid-major to the Power 4 level. She is a winner, a motivator, a team player and a ferocious recruiter. We are more than thrilled to have her join our Orange Family.”
In more than 20 years of coaching, Adair has seen it all. She coached for USA Basketball in 2017 as a Court Coach and as an assistant coach with the U18 Women’s National Team and the U19 Women’s World Cup Team Trials Court, winning gold medals each time. She has coached four WNBA draft picks and several players who continued their careers professionally overseas.
“I am truly elated to join the Syracuse women’s basketball staff and continue being part of a championship tradition,” Adair said. “I’ve known Coach Jack for over 20 years and have always admired her professionalism, passion, and relentless drive. She is a winner, a champion, and a staple in our women’s basketball community. It’s bigger than basketball for her; she’s a teacher of the game, mentor, role model, and a tremendous asset to our sport. To now work alongside her and her staff to contribute to a winning culture where I can add impact and value is an incredible honor. To do so at her alma mater makes it even more special. It’s truly an honor and a privilege. Go Orange!”
At Arizona State, she coached three All-Conference players in Jaddan Simmons, Tyi Skinner and Jalyn Brown. Simmons was named a Pac-12 All-Defensive Team Honorable Mention in the 2023-24 season and was also recognized with the same honor in the 2022-23 season. Additionally, she reached 1,000 career points as a senior and finished her time at ASU ranked 17th on the all-time scoring list with 1,136 points. Skinner set the single-season program record for three-pointers and earned All-Pac-12 honors in 2023 and All-Big 12 recognition in 2025. Brown also earned All-Pac-12 honorable mention in 2024 and All-Big 12 honorable mention in 2025 while leading the team in scoring both seasons. Both Skinner and Brown scored over 1,000 points in their ASU careers under Adair’s tutelage.
In five seasons at Delaware, Adair coached back-to-back 20-win seasons, a Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) regular season title, CAA Conference Title and the program’s first NCAA Tournament appearance in almost a decade since Elena Delle Donne was on the roster.
She was named CAA Coach of the Year in 2021 when she guided the Blue Hens to a 24-5 overall record and a 16-2 mark in conference play. That season they led the nation in offensive rebounds per game with 20.3. They won the WNIT Charlotte Region Championship and reached the WNIT semifinals.
Key to these accomplishments was WNBA Draft selection Jasmine Dickey, CAA Player of the Year, who was drafted by and played for the Dallas Wings and has played professionally in New Zealand, Iceland and Australia. In 2022, Adair received national recognition when she was named a National Coach of the Year Finalist by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA).
Upon her arrival in Newark, Adair made an immediate impact when she took the reigns before the 2017-18 season, guiding Delaware to its second most wins and first postseason appearance since the 2013-14 season.
Prior to Delaware, she elevated a Georgetown team to back-to-back winning seasons and post-season berths. At Georgetown, she coached Dionna White, who ranked second all-time in Hoya history with scoring over 2,071 career points.
In her first head coaching appointment, Adair led the College of Charleston to back-to-back post season appearances, advancing to the semifinals in both the CAA Championship and the Women’s Basketball Invitational (WBI).
Adair is no stranger to the ACC, having spent eight years (2004-12) on the sidelines as an assistant coach and Associate Head Coach at Wake Forest. She also spent six seasons as an assistant coach at Georgetown from 1998-2004.
At Georgetown, Adair was the position coach for Rebekkah Brunson, a BIG EAST All-Defensive Team honoree and 2004 WNBA First Round Draft pick. Brunson went on to win five WNBA Championships, the only player to do so, and was a 5x All-Star. Her jersey was retired by the Minnesota Lynx where she played and now coaches as an assistant on Cheryl Reeve’s staff.
Adair’s recruiting expertise and player development skills was a huge contributor to the winningest coaching staff in Demon Deacons’ history. She coached Olympian and WNBA Champion Dearica Hamby at Wake Forest. Hamby was the WNBA’s Sixth Woman of the Year in 2018 and again in 2020. She was a bronze medalist in the 2024 Paris Olympics with USA’s 3×3 Basketball team.
Off the court, Adair is a founding member of the Black Coaches United (BCU) and has been recognized by multiple organizations including BCU, Advancement of Blacks in Sports (ABIS) and was a guest on ESPNW’s “Around the Rim” with LaChina Robinson. She served as Delaware’s CAA United for Change committee representative and was the head coach representative at the Student-Athletes Against Social Injustice Task Force educational session. At Arizona State, Adair was selected to lead the Head Coaches Speakers’ Bureau.
She is known nationally as a game-changer and has worked tirelessly to create a safe space for athletes to find and use their voice, especially pertaining to social justice issues across the country. Additionally, her focus on academics is evident in having 100% graduation rate for all players she has coached.
Adair’s achievements in developing leaders on her staff have benefited the game at both the collegiate and professional ranks. Many of her former players have become coaches with three currently serving as head coaches.
Prior to coaching, Adair was a 6-foot-2 High School All-American and one of the nation’s top recruits from Washington, D.C., with offers from elite programs including BIG EAST contenders like Syracuse, UConn, and Georgetown. After suffering a torn ACL, she went on to become a team captain at Pensacola Junior College, where she helped lead the team to back-to-back state championships. She completed her college career as leading rebounder and captain at South Florida under the tutelage of Kay Yow’s standout player, Trudi Lacey, who later became the first African American WNBA General Manager and Head Coach for the Washington Mystics.
Coach Adair has two children; her son Aaron is a summa cum laude graduate of Johnson C. Smith University and her daughter, Allyssa, is a volleyball student-athlete at Texas State. She is also a proud “Glamma” of Aiden, her one-year-old grandson.
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