Story Courtesy Casey Montalvo, Texas Tech Athletics
Texas Tech head coach Krista Gerlich has announced the hiring of Adrian Walters as the new associate head coach for the Lady Raiders.
“We are thrilled to welcome Adrian Walters as our new associate head coach at Texas Tech. His coaching experience is exceptional, and he’s been instrumental in helping his teams advance deep in the NCAA tourney,” Gerlich said. “His dedication to recruiting and player development will be invaluable as we continue to strive for excellence. Adrian’s passion for the game and commitment to our athletes will undoubtedly elevate our program to new heights.”
Walters come to Tech after spending the last five seasons as an assistant coach with the North Carolina women’s basketball program. While with the Tar Heels, Walters coached the team to the NCAA Tournament all five years he was there, including two second-round appearances and a third-round appearance. In the 2024-25 season, North Carolina would go 29-8 overall and 13-5 in the ACC to finish fourth in the regular season. In addition, the Tar Heels advanced to the semifinals of the conference tournament before making it to the third round of the NCAA Tournament.
In Walters’ stint at North Carolina, the Tar Heels totaled 109 overall wins and 56 conference victories. He would coach two WBCA All-American Honorable Mentions in Janelle Bailey (2021) and Deja Kelly (2022), one WNBA top-10 draft pick in Stephanie Watts, seven All-ACC selections and 13 Academic All-ACC members.
Prior to his time in Chapel Hill, N.C., Walters spent the 2019-20 season as an assistant coach for the University of Alabama’s women’s basketball team. In that year, the Crimson Tide recorded its highest amount of regular season (18) and conference wins (8) since 1997-98. Walters served as Alabama’s defensive coordinator and oversaw the post players at Alabama, helping the team hold opponents to just 64.2 points per game that year.
Before this, Walters served as an assistant coach at Auburn for seven seasons where he focused on player development, post players and scheduling. Walters aided the Tigers to three NCAA Tournament appearances as well as two WNIT appearances. In 2018-19, Auburn had its best season in 10 years after going 22-10 overall and 9-7 in the SEC, earning its third NCAA Tournament bid in the last four seasons. In that year, the Tigers set program records in single-season 3-pointers, single-game 3-pointers, fewest turnovers in a season and in SEC road wins.
In the 2015-16 season, Walters aided the team to its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2009 and coached Tra’Cee Tanner to an All-SEC Second Team selection after finishing her career with at least 1,000 points, 500 rebounds, 100 assists, 100 blocks and 100 steals. In his first year with the Tigers, Walters coached Auburn to the WNIT quarterfinals and 19 wins, which marked the most wins in the past four years for Auburn. The team would go on to set a school record of 402 steals that season and forced 701 turnovers, which ranked second in the program’s history.
Before his time at Auburn, Walters was an assistant coach in 2011-12 for Georgetown’s women’s basketball team. In that one season, he would coach the team to an impressive 23-9 overall record and a second-round appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
Prior to his stint at Georgetown, Walters served as associate head coach from 2008-11 for the men’s basketball team at El Camino College in Torrance, Calif., where he was in charge of recruiting, player development and post players. Before coaching at El Camino College, Walters was the associate head coach for the Hampton men’s basketball team for a season, where the Pirates went 18-12 overall. Prior to this season at Hampton, Walters served as a Vice-President for Bank of America for five years.
His first coaching experience came right after college when he served as an assistant coach at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., for two seasons, then took on the head coaching role in his third year there. He transitioned to Division I a year later in 1991-92 when he became a men’s assistant coach at Towson. While there, he aided the team to a 17-13 record and an East Coach Conference championship.
From Towson, Walters made his way to Southern California for four seasons from 1992-96. The Trojans men’s basketball team made the NIT in his first two years, including a run to the quarterfinals in his first season. After his stop at USC, Walters spent a season as assistant coach at Central Connecticut State.
A four-year letterwinner for the Saint Francis University (Pa.) Red Flash, Walters graduated with a bachelor’s degree in social work.
