Adams takes top assistant basketball coaching position at Pfeiffer

KEENE, N.H.  8/8/12 – Matt Adams is on the road again. The Chesterfield, N.H., native and former sharp-shooting guard at Keene High School and Keene State College recently left his associate head coaching position at KSC to become the top assistant coach at Pfeiffer University. 

A Division II team located in Misenheimer, N.C. (45 minutes north of Charlotte), Pfeiffer University is coached by Jeremy Currier. Currier is originally from Hampstead, N.H., and played high school ball at Pinkerton Academy before going on to a four-year career at Endicott College in Beverly, Mass.

"It was hard leaving Keene State, but it's an opportunity I just couldn't turn down," said Adams, a member of the 2003-04 Owl team that advanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament, and captain of the 2006-07 squad that reach the Sweet 16 of that year's tournament. "The position gives me the opportunity to get back to the scholarship level and recruit players in a basketball mecca like the Carolinas." 

"I think this is a great opportunity for Matt," said Keene State Coach Rob Colbert, who along with former KSC and current Endicott coach Phil Rowe endorsed and recommended him for the job at Pfeiffer. "He did a tremendous job as our recruiting coordinator and I know he'll continue his fine work at Pfeiffer."

Currier, who begins his third season coaching the Falcons from Pfeiffer, is delighted about Adams joining his staff. "We're absolutely thrilled that he's here," said Currier, a former Nashua Telegraph "Player of the Year" and first-team All-State player at Pinkerton who was also named the Commonwealth Coast Conference's "Player of the Year" as a senior at Endicott. "He brings a great work ethic and great energy to our program." 

Anxious to start his new position, Adams drove through the night to North Carolina and was present the next morning for the start of meetings. "Matt has worked his tail off ever since he arrived and has already made a great impression on everyone," said Currier, who first met Adams at a recruiting trip in Maryland. 

Recruited by Colbert out of Pinkerton, Currier almost became an Owl. "I had some friends who went there and visited the campus," said Currier. "I certainly have a lot of respect for their program."

After working a couple of years in the Boston Celtics front office, Currier was hired as the head coach at Daniel Webster College in Nashua, becoming, at the age of 25, the youngest head coach in the country. He moved on to Pfeiffer, where he served two years as an assistant before taking over as the Falcons' head coach. 

Currier hopes the arrival of Adams signals a rise in the Pfeiffer program. The Falcons finished eighth in the competitive 12-team Conference Carolinas with a 12-14 record. One of Pfeiffer's top conference rivals, Barton College from Wilson, N.C., won the Division II national championship in 2007.

Currier can give Adams plenty of advice when it comes to recruiting Division II athletes. "When you're a Division III coach, the kids say they're going Division II and when you're a Division II coach they all say they're going Division I," said Currier, who feels his brand of basketball is a little more up-tempo than in the Northeast region.   "I know KSC scores a lot of points and really gets up and down, but the athleticism in the South is really remarkable."

This isn't the first time Adams has left home. After working as a student assistant at KSC, Adams spent a year coaching at Rutgers-Newark before returning to take a position at Franklin Pierce University prior to rejoining the Owls. "You're always torn when you leave kids that you recruited. You spend so much time building relationships with them," said Adams. "I'm going to miss Keene a lot, but it probably won't be my last time back."