May 23, 2002

Garden City, N.Y. - Adelphi University named Kelley Watts as the Women's Basketball Head Coach effective immediately. She becomes the eighth head women's basketball coach, and the first African-American female head coach, in Adelphi history, replacing Kim Barnes-Arico who accepted a head coaching position at St. John's University.

Watts comes to Adelphi after a two-year head coaching stint at Kings Point Academy. She guided the program from a club sport to an 8-16 record during its 2000-01 inaugural season. In 2001-02 the team finished 6-18 overall.

Before Kings Point, Watts served as an Assistant Women's Basketball Coach at Hofstra (1998-2000) for two seasons. In the six years prior to that, she was an Assistant Women's Basketball Coach at three prestigious Division I programs. She served as an assistant at the University of Virginia (1993-94), St. John's University (94-95), and Temple University (95-98).

Watts began her career working as a Graduate Assistant at Stony Brook University after achieving a Bachelor of Science in Administration of Justice from Rutgers University. She was standout player at Rutgers and was a member of a unit that had the first perfect conference season in Atlantic 10 history (16-0, 1986). That same squad also ventured deep in the NCAA Tournament, eventually falling in the Elite Eight.

A member of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) since 1984, she has instructed at over a dozen different basketball clinics and has been a guest speaker at numerous award banquets. Her accolades extend to the national level as well, where she was part of a team that qualified for the 1984 USA Olympic Trials.

A native of Bayshore, New York, Watts earned All-American honors during her three years as a varsity basketball player for Bayshore High School.