in 1990, adams joined jerry tarkanian's staff at unlv, who followed its championship season with an undefeated big west conference regular season record and berth in the 1991 final four. adams then was an assistant at drake for one season, then reunited with tarkanian to be an assistant under him with the nba's san antonio spurs in 1992. after two seasons, adams joined john lucas ii's staff on the philadelphia 76ers as assistant coach in 1994. from 1996 to 1998, adams was a player personnel scout for the portland trail blazers.