New Mexico State women’s basketball coach Jody Adams knew where to look for an assistant coach.
The former Lady Vols basketball star, who won a national title in 1991, hired Bridgette Gordon as her assistant coach and recruiting coordinator. Gordon, who played at Tennessee from 1985-89, had a playing career that earned her a spot in the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2007. She won NCAA championships in 1987 and 1989 and was selected the Final Four Most Outstanding Player in 1989.
Gordon made four consecutive trips to the Final Four under legendary Lady Vols coach Pat Summitt and is one of six Lady Vols to have her jersey retired.
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“Coach Bridgette and I being Lady Vol sisters, winning ways are in our DNA.” Adams said in a release. “Bridgette’s success on the court as a colligate and professional player is genuinely uncommon. I love her ability to build relationships with student-athletes and empower them to be great. Her story is a true inspiration to all that meet her.”
Gordon began her coaching career in 2004 at Stetson University in DeLand, Florida, before becoming a WNBA scout in 2006. She returned to the coaching world in 2007, spending three seasons at Georgia State before joining Adams’ staff at Wichita State in 2010. The pair found great success together over seven seasons with a 139-88 record.
Adams and Gordon achieved five straight postseason appearances from 2010-15, won three consecutive MVC regular-season and tournament titles from 2013-15 to make three NCAA Tournament appearances. Gordon moved on to her alma mater as an assistant for former Tennessee coach Holly Warlick from 2018-19. She made stops at SMU, Kansas State and Cincinnati before now reuniting with Adams.
Adams, who has 28 years of coaching experience, turned around the New Mexico State program in her first season at the helm in 2022-23. The Cleveland native led the Aggies to their first winning season in four years, culminating in the program’s first postseason victory in nearly 30 years. Adams has made six NCAA Tournament appearances at three schools and has led seven teams to conference championships in her 11 seasons as a head coach while reaching the postseason nine times.
Adams arrived in Knoxville the season after Gordon graduated and brought the university the first two of its eight NCAA titles in women’s basketball. Adams, who played at Tennessee from 1990-94, was the starting point guard on the 1991 national championship team.
Gordon was a four-time All-SEC First Team selection, the SEC Female Athlete of the Year and SEC Player of the Year in 1989 and a two-time Kodak and Naismith All-American. She won a gold medal with Team USA at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul as one of two collegiate players on the team.
Gordon continued her playing career professionally overseas in the Italian and Turkish leagues, where she won two FIBA European Cups (1994, 1995). She played briefly in the WNBA after its inception in 1996 for the Sacramento Monarchs from 1997-98 before ending her playing career in 2000.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Bridgette Gordon joins fellow Lady Vols alum Jody Adams’ NMSU staff
