KANSAS CITY, Mo. — After less than two seasons, the Texas Tech men's basketball team will have a new leader on the sidelines.
Mark Adams stepped down as the Red Raiders coach Wednesday night, via a Texas Tech news release. The decision follows the university's suspension of Adams and its inquiry related to his interactions with his players and staff.
Following this inquiry, Texas Tech athletics director Kirby Hocutt determined that the racially insensitive comment made to a player last week was unintentional and an isolated incident. Following the comment, Adams immediately apologized to the team, according to the release.
"My lifelong goal was to help and be a positive influence on my players, and to be a part of the Texas Tech men's basketball team," Adams said in the release. "However, both the university and I believe this incident has become a distraction for the Texas Tech men's basketball team and the university, which I care about so deeply."
Adams was suspended Sunday "in relation to the use of an inappropriate, unacceptable, and racially insensitive comment last week," according to a Texas Tech news release. Corey Williams was named the interim head coach for the Big 12 Tournament on Monday.
According to a news release sent Sunday, Hocutt was made aware of an incident in reference to a coaching session between Adams and a member of the men's basketball team. Hocutt met with players individually Sunday, a Texas Tech official confirmed to the Avalanche-Journal.
"Adams was encouraging the student-athlete to be more receptive to coaching and referenced Bible verses about workers, teachers, parents and slaves serving their masters," according to the Texas Tech release.
Last April after Texas Tech ended its season in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament, the Brownfield native received a contract extension. He's now on a five-year, $15.5 million contract that runs through the 2026-27 season. It represented a 55-percent increase to the original deal he signed.
With annual base salaries of $300,000 plus right fees, Adams' total compensation is at $3 million for this season and increases by $50,000 annually — to $3.05 million in 2023-24, $3.1 million in 2024-25, $3.15 million in 2025-26 and $3.2 million in 2026-27.
The deal includes buy-outs for each side. To fire Adams without cause, Tech would owe him 60 percent of the remaining contract value. That could be offset should he have future earnings elsewhere.
Adams, after he replaced Chris Beard in April 2021, agreed to a five-year, $10-million dollar deal, plus incentives. His annual pay under that contract was scheduled to be $1.9 million in the first year, $1.95 million in the second, $2 million in the third, $2.05 million in the fourth and $2.1 million in the fifth.
Texas Tech finished the regular season 16-15, including 5-13 and tied for ninth place in the Big 12.
On Wednesday, the Red Raiders suffered a 78-62 loss to West Virginia in the first round of the Big 12 Conference Tournament. It ended a roller coaster season at 16-16 overall for the Texas Tech coaching staff and players. The next day, Texas Tech confirmed it would not pursue any postseason opportunities, per a school spokesman, meaning the season is over for the program.
"If we're being honest, there was a lot of weight on these kids right now," Williams said. "They've been through a lot over the last week or so. In some ways, I just feel like it caught up with them. They wanted to win. They gave their best, and once the ball stopped falling in a little bit, it got a little bit more tougher. The hill became a lot steeper. Unfortunately we weren't able to make up the difference."
Tech went 0-8 to start Big 12 play before finishing 5-5 in its last 10 games. The Red Raiders lost eight conference games by six points or less, including a 71-68 defeat to Oklahoma State on Saturday which eliminated any at-large opportunities for the NCAA Tournament.
Texas Tech, which dropped its fourth-straight game Wednesday, may have a chance to participate in the NIT.
"Nobody's going to feel sorry for you," Williams said. "Anything in life, you've got to go out and grab it. Sometimes the only time you get a chance to impress people is the first time, and you've got to do it now. Life doesn't guarantee you a second opportunity. As painful as this is, the guys are not losers. They're winners."
In his first season, Adams guided the Red Raiders to a 27-10 mark and a spot in the Sweet 16 before falling to Duke. Through the NCAA transfer portal, Adams landed key players such as Bryson Williams, Adonis Arms and Davion Warren to help returners Kevin McCullar, Jr. and Terrence Shannon, Jr. shoulder the offensive load.
After the season, McCullar and Shannon elected to transfer to Kansas and Illinois, respectively, while several seniors graduated and left the Red Raiders' coaching staff in scramble mode to fill a roster with one returning starter in Kevin Obanor to go with reserve players in Daniel Batcho and KJ Allen and mid-year transfer Jaylon Tyson.
Adams was Texas Tech's associate head coach from 2016-2021, focusing on the team defense and substitutions. Prior to that, he was an assistant to Beard at Arkansas-Little Rock before Beard was hired at Texas Tech and was the first call to join the charter staff. He served as Texas Tech's director of basketball operations from 2013-15 after a coaching career that included head coaching stints at five colleges and universities from 1981-2013.
"You can't make this stuff up, the trials and tribulations we had this year," Obanor said Wednesday in the locker room following the loss to West Virginia and after shooting down the thought of Texas Tech accepting an invitation to a sub-NCAA Tournament. "I can't tell you where anything stands.
"We wanted to win it is all for West Texas because it's been through some tough times as of last year and, especially, these last couple of weeks. Just pray for them because I really don't know what they're going to do. Hopefully the guys take a couple of days off, even a week, to clear their minds and see what the future holds."
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Suspended head coach Mark Adams steps down following Texas Tech's first-round loss to West Virginia
