Director of Athletics Brian Barrio did not have to search very far to replace the legendary Retriever bench boss Pete Caringi, Jr.

Anthony Adams, ’97, who has served on the Retriever staff for 26 years, including the last dozen as associate head coach, has taken the reins from his former coach and mentor in February, 2023. 

Black and Gold: Through and Through, UMBC Magazine, April 6, 2022

https://umbc.edu/stories/black-and-gold-through-and-through/

On eight occasions, Adams has been named one of the nation’s top assistant coaches by collegesoccernews.com. He just 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 the 25-year run, he has helped recruit 108 student-athletes that earned all-conference honors, 18 of which earned the conference’s Player of the Year award. Twenty-seven Retrievers have earned All-Region honors and seven have been tabbed to All-America teams. Moreover, 32 members of the black-and-gold have signed professional soccer contracts.      

The longest-tenured UMBC assistant coach holds a USSF “A” coaching license. He 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.

His wife, Stephanie, was a former member of the sports medicine staff at UMBC. The couple had their first child, Isabella Marika, in July 2007 and also welcomed Caroline Marie to the family in August 2010.