Adia Barnes shared a sexist remark when talking about coaching men’s basketball players.
Barnes is coming off leading the Arizona women’s basketball team to the championship game in the NCAA Tournament, where they lost to Stanford. Arizona’s men’s program is looking for a new basketball coach after firing Sean Miller on Wednesday.
Barnes isn’t viewed as a candidate for the men’s job but was asked during a recent interview whether she would consider the job if they wanted her. She told The Johnjay & Rich Show’s “After Words” podcast that she would say no because men don’t listen.
“Absolutely not. Zero interest,” Barnes said of the job, eliciting laughs from the hosts. “Guys don’t listen to crap, no. You tell a guy to go right, he going left three times. No, they don’t listen.”
That doesn’t seem at all like a broad generalization of men. Not at all.
Barnes said she didn’t even know that Miller had been fired. She told the hosts that she had a good relationship with him.
“I really liked him a lot. We were friends and helped each other, and I talked to him throughout the tournament so I’m sad because you develop these friendships with great people. It is a business, and it’s hard. Our business is really cut throat, so it’s just kind of the nature that comes along with it,” she said.
Barnes, 44, played in college at Arizona before going pro in the WNBA. She has been Arizona’s coach since 2016 and has successfully turned around the program.
Barnes received some attention after dropping an F-bomb in celebration after one of her team’s wins and defended herself for it.
