University of South Alabama head men’s basketball coach Richie Riley announced on Tuesday that Adam Howard has been promoted to associate head coach.
The announcement comes after Howard has completed his third season as a member of the Jaguar coaching staff, during which times his efforts have helped South go 54-39 overall highlighted by a 31-24 mark in Sun Belt Conference play. That included a 20-11 finish in 2019-20, the program’s first 20-win season since the 2008-09 campaign.
“Adam has played a major role in our success throughout our first three seasons in Mobile,” Riley said. “He is not only a great coach but an incredible husband, father and mentor.”
Howard has been responsible for coordinating the Jags’ full- and half-court defensive sets since joining the program prior to the start of the 2018-19 season. Over that span, South has forced nearly 1,300 total turnovers while posting better than 200 steals each year and has also been credited with almost 350 blocks. His efforts working with Jaguar post players helped Josh Ajayi earn all-Sun Belt honors in back-to-back seasons highlighted by picking up first-team honors at the end of his senior year.
Howard came to Mobile after working on the staff at Troy for two seasons, where he helped the Trojans record the largest win improvement in school history on the way to earning a berth in the 2017 NCAA Tournament. He was at Tennessee in 2014-15, where in addition to working with Josh Richardson — a first-team all-Southeastern Conference selection who would go on to become the 40th pick in the 2015 NBA Draft — he was responsible for signing Kevin Punter, a junior college All-American who would go on to score the most points by a two-year player in Volunteer history.
After graduating from Western Kentucky — where he was a four-year letterwinner for the Hilltopper basketball team — with a degree in mass communication, Howard began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Morehead State in 2009 before moving into a full-time role with the Eagles a year later. He also was an assistant at Southern Miss for two seasons, helping the Golden Eagles to a 56-17 overall mark and back-to-back postseason tournament appearances in that span.
A native of Ashland, Ky, Howard and his wife Renee have a son, Eli, and a daughter, Emma.
