Drew Adams Officially Added To Indiana Men’s Basketball Coaching Staff

Indiana athletics made it official on Wednesday – Drew Adams is part of men’s basketball coach Darian DeVries staff.

Adams, a graduate of Bloomington High School South graduate, has been working with DeVries since March, but sometimes the official announcement of when an assistant coach is hired often comes later.

“Drew has been successful every place he has coached,” DeVries said. “He has deep recruiting ties to the state of Indiana and will work tirelessly to make sure we are able to put the best product on the floor. He is a highly respected young coach, and we are excited to be able to bring him and his family back to Bloomington.”

DeVries would have become familiar with Adams when DeVries coached at Drake from 2018-24. At the same time, Adams was an assistant coach on Brian Wardle’s staff at fellow Missouri Valley Conference member Bradley, a school that was a contender with Drake at the top of the MVC in the late 2010s and early 2020s.

Adams was at Bradley from 2015-22. Adams played an important role in reestablishing Bradley to the peak of the Missouri Valley. He helped turn the nation's youngest team with just five wins in 2016 into conference champions and an appearance in the NCAA Tournament in 2019 – Bradley's first MVC Tournament title since 1988. Bradley also won the MVC in 2020, but had their NCAA Tournament participation canceled due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Adams coached 10 all-conference players and seven MVC All-Freshman recipients. Adams earned Top 50 Most Impactful Mid Major Assistants distinction from Silver Waves Media in both 2020 and 2022 and was also named one of the top five assistant coaches in the Missouri Valley Conference in 2020.

Adams is the second assistant coach with Bradley ties that DeVries will have as part of his staff. Mike Bargen was on Bradley’s staff for 10 years under Wardle and was also on the same Creighton staff as DeVries under Dana Altman from 2001-04. Bargen has not yet officially be named to DeVries staff.

Nick Norton also played for DeVries at Drake and was an assistant coach on his Bulldogs staff.

Adams was most recently at Cincinnati from 2022-25 as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator. Before Adams’ stint at Bradley, he was at New Mexico from 2011-15 on the staff of former Hoosier Steve Alford, whom he played for at Iowa. Adams was also a graduate assistant at Tennessee.

A 2004 graduate of Bloomington High School South, Adams spent three years playing for head coach J.R. Holmes. During his senior season at South, the Panthers won Conference Indiana, and he was selected as team captain, was the team's leading scorer, and was an all-conference selection.