Adkins turns down Paintsville offer

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July 19, 2012

Adkins turns down Paintsville offer

Former Tiger basketball standout to stay at Campbellsville University

Staff Writer The Independent The Daily Independent Thu Jul 19, 2012, 12:26 AM EDT

CAMPBELLSVILLE — Paintsville basketball great Keith Adkins has declined an offer to coach his alma mater.

Adkins will remain the head men’s coach at Campbellsville University, according to CU Athletics Director Rusty Hollingsworth.

With the decision to stay, Vanessa Adkins, Keith’s wife, will also remain on board. She is a three-time Mid-South Conference Cheerleading Coach of the Year.

"I am pleased to announce that Keith and Vanessa have decided to stay in Campbellsville and continue to build on the success of their respective programs. I know this was a very tough and emotional decision for them and their family. They love Campbellsville University, but the chance to return home and coach at Keith's alma mater was very enticing to them," Hollingsworth said.

Adkins is considered one of the top five boys basketball players in Paintsville history. A three-sport star (basketball, baseball, golf) for the Tigers in the mid-to-late 1980s, he was named the Kentucky Male Athlete of the Year in 1988.

“I’d like to thank Paintsville High School and superintendent Coy Samons for extending me an opportunity to be their boys basketball coach. It was a humbling offer, and one that was definitely attractive, mostly because it was home for me. It’s where I played, where my father (Charlie) coached for 35 years and to be perfectly honest, it was intriguing to say the least,” Adkins said. “I don’t think at this point in my career, I would or would have considered any high school position other than Paintsville High School … It being a special place to me is the only reason it earned consideration.”

From 1985 to 1988, Adkins helped lead Paintsville to three state tournament appearances, including a Final Four his junior season in 1987. During the 1987-88 season, the 3-point line was implemented, and he promptly sank 48 percent of his 258 shots beyond the arc. He led the state in scoring with an average of 32 points per game, and set school records for most points in a game (53) and in a half (30) against Pikeville. Following the season, he was named a First Team All-State selection and was a member of the Kentucky All-Star Team.

Charlie Adkins was a legendary head baseball coach at Paintsville, winning 805 games in 33 seasons before his retirement in 2005. The elder Adkins guided the Tigers to the 1990 state championship. The Paintsville baseball field is named in his honor. He passed away from cancer in 2010.

The opportunity to move, and ultimate decision to stay, weighed heavily on family, Adkins said. It would have placed Adkins in the same community with his entire family and within an hour of Vanessa’s family in Greenup County.

“Paintsville will always be my hometown and where I’m from, but the bottom line is Campbellsville is the only home that we as a family have ever known,” Adkins said. “It was an easy decision to make staying here and continuing what we started.”

Keith Adkins owns a program-best win percentage of .594 in 12 seasons as head coach. He is currently on the NAIA Top 25 active coaches’ wins list with a 234-160 record, including six 20-win seasons and six NAIA Tournament appearances. He led the Tigers to their first-ever Mid-South Tournament championship in 2006 and the program’s first MSC regular season title in 2010.

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Adkins turns down Paintsville offer

Former Tiger basketball standout to stay at Campbellsville University

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