Bio

Hope Adams heads into her ninth season as head women’s basketball coach at Gulf Coast in 2025-26 after having passed the 100-win plateau in charge of the Bulldogs last season.

Her 2024-25 team advanced to the NJCAA Region 23 Tournament Quarterfinals. Taelar Felton was named to the All-Region and All-MACCC teams.

The prior year’s team was the program’s most successful in nearly a quarter century. Adams’ Bulldogs won the MACCC and NJCAA Region 23 championships in 2024, earning the school’s first conference crown since 2000. Gulf Coast made its first trip to the national championship since 1977 with its journey to Casper, Wyo. The Bulldogs went 23-5, including a 13-1 mark in MACCC play to share the title with Pearl River. They swept to the region title in Jackson behind the powerful play of four sophomores.

Simaru Fields earned NJCAA All-American honors and was named to the CSC Academic All-American team. She’ll continue her college career at NCAA Division I Old Dominion. Fellow guard Ja’Sharreah Hunt was an All-Region 23 performer who will play at NCAA Division I Southeastern Louisiana, and forward Je'Mya Evans is headed NCAA Division I Southern Miss after earning All-Region honors. Forward Tytiana Buckley was also named to the All-Region team and will continue her college basketball at NCAA Division II Mississippi College.

The Bulldogs are 68-35 over the past four seasons. Adams earned MACCC and Region 23 Coach of the Year honors in 2023-24. It was her second conference award.

In 2023-24, the Bulldogs finished fourth in the MACCC, then won in the quarterfinals over Coahoma to advance to Clinton where they lost to eventual region champions Jones. She developed Simaru Fields into an All-Region performer who earned a spot playing in the NJCAA Women’s Basketball Coaches Association All-Star Weekend in Atlanta as part of the top 40 prospects. 

Gulf Coast went 17-6 that year, including an 11-3 mark in MACCC play.

In 2020-21, the Bulldogs went 17-8 and advanced to the MACJC Tournament and the Region 23 semifinals.

She was named MACJC Coach of the Year in 2018-19 when she led Gulf Coast to a Region 23 runner-up finish. That came a year after her team hadn’t won’t a single South Division year. Gulf Coast went 16-10 and advanced to the semifinals of the MACJC Tournament and the regional finals.

Adams was the Bulldogs’ assistant coach in 2016-17. She had been an assistant coach at Oxford High School, where the teams went 47-13 from 2014-16. The Lady Chargers were region champs in 2015 and advanced to the state quarterfinals in 2016. 

Adams played at the University of Memphis as a freshman, then went on to be a first-team All-MACJC and All-Region 23 selection at Northwest Mississippi in 2009-10. She played at Union University in 2010-11, where the team went 31-2 on the way to the NAIA national championship game. She earned All-TranSouth Conference honors at Union.

She graduated with a bachelor's in sports medicine from Union and went on to obtain a master's in conflict resolution from Bethel University. Adams is a certified personal trainer and sports nutritionist.

Adams, who serves as the MACCC coaches committee chairperson for men’s and women’s basketball, has three children, Jayden Curtis, 17, Janila Curtis, 17, and Jaycee Curtis, 13.