Anthony Adams, ’97, who has served on the Retriever staff for 27 years, including a dozen as associate head coach, took over the reins from his former coach and mentor Pete Caringi Jr. in February, 2023.
Black and Gold: Through and Through, UMBC Magazine, April 6, 2022
https://umbc.edu/stories/black-and-gold-through-and-through/
Adams led UMBC to a 7-4-5 record in his first season in 2023 and the Retrievers went 3-1-3 in the ultra competitive America East Conference. The Dawgs also defeated a pair of top-20 squads, Cornell and Vermont.
The Dawgs went 8-7-4 in 2024, and the squad advanced to the conference semifinals after defeating Binghamton in the opening round. The Retrievers were 4-2-1 in the league, which included a 1-0 victory over eventual NCAA National Champion Vermont. The squad also earned draws against national powers Maryland and Georgetown.
On eight occasions, Adams was named one of the nation’s top assistant coaches by collegesoccernews.com. He earned his most recent accolade after the 2014 season, and in 2003, he was one of 27 college coaches in the nation to be honored as an Assistant Coach of the Year by AFLAC. Two seasons later, Adams was recognized by the NSCAA as the Assistant Coach of the Year in the Atlantic region.
Adams earned four letters for UMBC from 1992-95 and was a starter in the backfield in his final three seasons. The Dundalk, Md., native (Calvert Hall) has been an extremely successful coach at the club level. As coach of the Soccer Club of Baltimore and the Baltimore Bays, he won 10 state championships, two regional titles and made two national final four appearances from 1996-2007.
Adams was a member of the coaching staff of the USSF Development Academy’s Baltimore Bays from 2008-13 and had five teams place in the Academy Final Eight over that time. He has been coaching with the Baltimore Celtic SC since 2013.
In 2013, Adams was inducted into the Greater Dundalk Hall of Fame and received the Edward Finzel Honor Award for outstanding contributions to soccer in Maryland.
Adams earned the 1995 Retriever Club Scholarship Award, given each year to a junior student-athlete who demonstrates academic and athletic excellence and a commitment to UMBC’s community service program.
He has also served as the program’s recruiting coordinator since 1997. In his 28-year run on the Retriever sidelines, he has helped recruit 118 student-athletes that earned all-conference honors, 19 of which earned the conference’s Player of the Year award. 29 Retrievers have earned All-Region honors and 9 have been tabbed to All-America teams. Moreover, 34 members of the black-and-gold have signed professional soccer contracts.
Adams earned a degree in history and a certificate in secondary education from UMBC in 1997 and completed his master’s degree in management from the University of Maryland, University College (now University of Maryland, Global Campus) in 2007. Adams holds a USSF “A” coaching license.
His wife, Stephanie, was a former member of the sports medicine staff at UMBC. The couple are parents to Isabella Marika and Caroline Marie. Isabella will be a freshman on the Retrievers’ women’s soccer team in 2025.
