Girls basketball coach resigns: cites community rumblings
Published 12:45 pm Tuesday, June 24, 2025
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By Brian Pitts
Enterprise Record
It was a rags-to-riches tale.
Davie girls basketball was a doormat for three straight years, hitting rock bottom with an 0-25 record in 2019-20.
But the whole vibe of the program changed the moment Davie hired a fearless, confident, determined 21-year-old coach named Lindsey Adams.
The War Eagles went 3-9 during the COVID-shortened season in Adams’ rookie year, followed by the steady climb of 9-14 to 13-13 to 16-12 to 20-8.
The 2024-25 season brought great joy. The War Eagles enjoyed their most wins in 22 years. They won the CPC’s regular-season title for the first time in 22 years. They strung together the longest winning streak (eight) in 10 years. They picked up their first state-playoff win in 10 years.
And they had unfinished business because they won 20 games without a single senior on the roster; last year’s squad consisted of two juniors, six sophomores and three freshmen. They were utterly loaded with talent for at least the next two years.
And then, poof, it all went down the drain.
• First, rising senior Bailey Aderhold suffered a devastating knee injury a few weeks ago. She had ACL surgery June 17 and she’ll miss all of tennis and most, if not all, of her senior basketball season.
• Then two starters decided to transfer.
• Then some things went down, it quickly turned ugly and Adams was so wrecked by the whole thing that she resigned as coach on June 12.
It’s an all-time bummer for Davie girls basketball. The 2025-26 season could go down as a massive “what if.”
What in the world happened with Adams? She said she served a four-week suspension – with pay – at the end of the school year.
“It wasn’t because of disciplinary action,” she said. “They wanted to remove me so all the tension could die down. You have two angry parents. The community hears about me being suspended, and then everybody in the community that wanted to take me down jumps on board and here we are.”
Adams stressed that she was not forced to resign.
“I was never forced out,” she said. “When I apply to places, I don’t have to check that box that says have you ever been reprimanded because I haven’t. I was just serving due process (during the suspension).
“They asked me why I resigned. For four weeks I’ve seen people stab me in the back. Why would I want to go back? It’s made it really hard. The school attorney has been involved the entire time and has said there’s nothing that she’s done that is a fireable offense. There’s nothing she has done where we need to reprimand her. They did not want to lose me. They still want me here. They still want me coaching and everything was my decision. I said (some in) this community are running my name in the ground and they have no idea what’s going on. They said once you come back in August, they’ll see you have done nothing wrong and your reputation will be fine.”
Adams admits she’s made mistakes. One of her regrets is not having a mentor.
“I love Davie and I’ve had support,” she said. “I wish I would have had a mentor. There was nobody I could lean on and say: ‘Hey, how should I handle this situation? Hey, how would you do this?’ So I’ve just been winging it as a 24, 25, 26 year old. It sucks. It’s rough. It hurts me. My ego wanted to ride it out to prove my innocence, and then I wanted to coach with the girls that are left to prove that we’re still gonna be okay. But then there came a point: What do I owe (Davie)? I’m not from here. I have no family here. The community is running my name in the ground. Why would I stay?”
Although the juggernaut expectations that Davie was going to have in 2025-26 and 2026-27 are now gone, Adams said the chain of events should not decimate the program.
“I do think it’s set up for success,” she said. “There’s some good eighth graders coming in. And then you have a transfer; if she comes, she’ll help. There’s a transfer that’s coming in that’s pretty talented. They’re still gonna be okay.”
As for Adams’ near future, she’s still on the Davie faculty as a PE teacher, but she’ll likely land a new job soon.
“I applied for a head coaching job and I think my interview went really good,” she said. “I’m kind of excited about it, honestly. During the interview, you could tell those people are some winners. They said 40-some percent of the teachers in their building could retire, but they don’t because it’s such a good place to work.”