Adams enters her sixth season as the director of basketball operations at NCCU in 2022-23. Before joining the Eagles at the start of the 2017-18 season, Adams spent a decade with the women’s basketball program at the University of North Carolina.
While in Chapel Hill, Adams served as the director of student-athlete development/recruiting assistant under the leadership of Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inducted coaching legend Sylvia Hatchell since 2007. Her tenure at UNC included two seasons with Stafford-Odom, who was an assistant coach for the Tar Heels from 2011-2013.
“There was an instantaneous aura of professionalism when I met Clarissa years ago,” said Stafford-Odom. “Her uncanny ability to promote positive alternatives and to bring resolve to situations that appear unresolvable render her invaluable. Clarissa will be an essential resource to our student-athletes as they navigate their way through college and prepare for life after athletics. She will bring life to the community and media presence of women's basketball, and she will effectively communicate the daily and long term direction of our program.”
Adams, who worked with the UNC football and men’s basketball teams as an undergraduate, earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in exercise and sports science from UNC in 2005. She started her career in collegiate athletics by working in both the UNC football operations and recruiting departments before moving over to women’s basketball program two years later.
Adams is a National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) certified personal trainer.
