Just a couple years ago the Bishop Amat girls basketball team was one of the best shows on campus and one of the best teams in the CIF Southern Section year after year under legendary coach Richard Wiard. But the program took a gigantic step back after Wiard resigned last year. Wiard had a falling out with the school’s administration, and is now an assistant at Duarte High with his son Scott Wiard, who was named the head coach.
The Amat girls basketball team hasn’t been the same since Wiard left and on Tuesday, it named Antwine Adkins to be its next head coach. Who is Adkins? He was an assistant last year to Treanna Allen, who lasted only one season after guiding the Lancers to one of their worst seasons in recent memory, finishing 7-19 and 0-8 in league.
When the school hired Allen to replace Wiard, who in 19 years won five CIF championships and two state championships, the reaction was mixed, because Amat supporters expected a splashier hire for a program with so much history.
But with a second chance to make a splashy hire after Allen’s resignation, the school hired Allen’s assistant, Adkins, whose coaching resume includes a recent assistant job at Whittier College and brief head coaching stops at Blair (2010-11, 10-12 overall) and Los Osos (2011-12, 15-11 overall).
Adkins might work out and could be surprisingly good, but will his immediate arrival and promotion satisfy Amat supporters? We’ll just have to wait and watch.