Adia Barnes hires Anthony Turner as assistant coach for Arizona women’s basketball, per report

Beyond assistant coach Salvo Coppa, many of Adia Barnes’ assistants for Arizona women’s basketball have been relatively young coaches at the beginning of their careers. This year, Barnes is going in a new direction. After moving Bett Shelby into an on-court assistant position, Barnes has hired Anthony Turner as her third assistant according to a report from Jason Scheer of 274 Sports.

The Colorado alumnus has spent over 20 years coaching at schools across the Western U.S., spending time at Colorado, Oregon State, San Diego State, UNLV, Boise State, New Mexico, Utah Valley, and, most recently, Weber State.

Shelby has been heavily invested in recruiting since she arrived at Arizona last season as the special assistant to the head coach. Turner brings similar experience in recruiting.

Turner’s experience in post player development is another skill Arizona can use. The Wildcats had difficulty inside last year, primarily due to lack of size. Barnes has brought in two post players from the transfer portal to go along with sophomore-to-be Maya Nnaji, 5th year Esmery Martinez, and incoming freshman Breya Cunningham.

Turner joined Weber State for the 2019-20 season and stayed there through last season. Prior to that, he was the associate head coach of Utah Valley for three years.

Arizona has not announced the hiring yet. Barnes also needs to hire a director of basketball operations and a video coordinator to complete her staff.