Bates College

Ex-basketball standout Adrienne Shibles represents excellence in leadership

Adrienne Shibles is a nationally recognized leader in athletic administration. Adrienne was two-time captain of the women’s basketball team at Bates and a 1,000-point scorer. She graduated from Bates in 1991 with a degree in history and American studies, and was elected to the College Key. After coaching basketball at Babson College and basketball and soccer at Colby College, Adrienne went back to school in a graduate program in exercise and sports studies at Smith College, where she earned a master’s degree in 1996. While at Smith she worked as assistant and then head basketball coach at Elms College in Massachusetts. Adrienne went to Swarthmore College in 1996. She is justly famous for her career as head basketball coach at Swarthmore, where she was also associate professor of physical education and chair of the physical education program. In her nine years at Swarthmore she had the most career wins in Swarthmore basketball history. She was named Russell Athletic/WBCA District 4 Coach of the Year in 2001. She recruited and coached two Kodak All-Americans, one Academic All-American, one Josten’s Trophy Recipient, two Josten’s finalists, and two Centennial Conference Players of the Year. Her teams were Centennial Conference Champions in 2001, in the second round of the 2001 NCAA tournament, and in the ECAC tournaments in 2002 and 2003. The Swarthmore women's basketball program was named to the WBCA Top 25 Team Academic Honor Roll for four years, 2001-04. Since 2005, Adrienne has served as dean of athletics and co-curricular programs at Gould Academy in Bethel, Maine. She is now focusing her skills on the broad range of activities so central to the success of a selective college preparatory school. She directs a program that includes 40 teams, including nationally competitive on-snow teams, and she leads an co-curricular program that includes wellness, rock climbing, dance and other activities aimed at the whole student. Of course, she also coaches the girls’ basketball team.