UCF hires 3 assistant coaches
Two days after announcing four transfer additions to her roster, UCF women’s basketball coach Sytia Messer has hired three assistants to join her in Orlando — including one coach who had previously worked for the Knights.
Texas A&M assistant coach Greg Brown returns to UCF for a second time as an associate head coach, while Memphis associate
head coach Tennille Adams joins the Knights in the same role.
“Coach Brown and coach Adams bring a ton of experience — including head coaching experience — to our program,” Messer said in a release. “They are both great recruiters and skill developers. They are also excellent communicators, which will enhance what we’re doing at UCF.”
Ashleigh DeBoue, Syracuse director of basketball operations, joins as an executive member of the UCF staff.
Brown last worked at UCF in 2011 under former head coach Joi Williams. First hired in April 2007 as an assistant coach, he was elevated to associate head coach in June 2009.
That season, the Knights won the Conference USA championship to earn an automatic NCAA tournament bid. Two years later, UCF won another C-USA title with Brown on staff.
Brown became the head coach of his alma mater, Lipscomb, where he worked from 2012-19.
In that span, Brown had players who earned the program’s first Atlantic Sun Player of the Year, three ASUN All-Conference nods and five ASUN All-Freshman honors before he was fired.
While Brown is familiar with UCF, Adams is familiar with Messer.
A teammate of Messer’s when the two helped Arkansas reach the 1998 Final Four and win the WNIT Championship the next season, Adams comes from Memphis where she was associate head coach.
With Adams on staff last season, the Tigers quadrupled their win total from 2020-21.
Before Memphis, she served as associate head coach for three seasons at Wright State, helping the Raiders reach the NCAA tournament twice and capture two Horizon League championships.
Adams spent three seasons as an assistant coach at Ball State, making consecutive WNIT appearances from 2015-17.
“Coach Adams brings experience as a standout player and a standout collegiate basketball coach,” Messer said. “While we were teammates and have both been in collegiate coaching, we’ve never had the opportunity to coach together.
“I’m excited that we have found our way back together with the goal of leading UCF on the national stage.”
Messer also has a history with DeBoue. They spent four years together at Baylor from 2013-17 when DeBoue served as a team manager.
In 2018, DeBoue was elevated to a learning specialist where she worked with student-athletes from various teams to achieve academic success at Baylor.
Named the director of operations at Syracuse in November 2021, DeBoue was responsible for leading the day-to-day operations of the women’s basketball program.
“I met Ashleigh as a student worker at Baylor, helped develop her and was able to mentor her,” Messer said. “She has gone on to work in the academic field, develop her career at Syracuse and now I’m excited to welcome her at UCF.”