Texas Tech coach Mark Adams has resigned, the school announced Wednesday night, days after he was suspended for using what it called an “inappropriate, unacceptable and racially insensitive comment.”
Adams did not coach the Red Raiders in Wednesday’s Big 12 tournament loss to West Virginia, with assistant coach Corey Williams serving as interim head coach.
“My goal in life is to help and make a positive impact on my players and be a part of the Texas Tech men’s basketball team,” Adams said in a prepared statement. “However, both the university and I believe this incident is a cause for concern for the Texas Tech men’s basketball team and the university, which is very important to me.”
According to the school, Adams encouraged the player to accept coaching by “referring to Bible verses about workers, teachers, parents and slaves serving their masters.” Adams immediately apologized to the team after the comment, the school said.
Athletic Director Kirby Hocutt was informed of the incident. He issued a written reprimand to Adams, but then decided to suspend the coach pending a “detailed investigation into Adams’ relationship with his players and staff.”
Hocutt determined that Adams’ comment was unintentional and an isolated incident after his inquiry.
The loss in the Texas Tech conference tournament dropped the Red Raiders to 16-16 on the season and 5-13 in conference play.
Scott Drew’s two former North Texas assistants, Grant McCasland and Oral Roberts, are expected to be the leading candidates to replace Adams, sources told ESPN.
Adams has come under pressure from influential people around the program over Texas Tech’s disappointing season, sources told ESPN. He signed a contract last spring that runs through the 2026-27 season and will pay him $15.5 million over five years.
Adams, 66, graduated from Texas Tech in 1979 and has coached the Red Raiders since 2016, first as an assistant under Chris Byrd and replacing Beard the past two seasons. He also spent two seasons as Tubby Smith’s program director of basketball operations from 2013 to 2015.
Before joining the Texas Tech staff, Adams was a longtime college coach at Texas, stopping at five schools over 30 years.