Brett Adams BIO
The first full time Athletic Director in Stevenson's (formerly known as Villa Julie College) history, Adams' arrival coincided with the Mustangs' leap to NCAA Division III at the start of the 1994-95 academic year. That year, Adams inherited an 8-team department, quickly added three sports, and subsequently oversaw the 11-sport department and committed himself to growth in order to provide students with the opportunity to compete.
Since then, Stevenson has added 18 more sports and now boasts 29 intercollegiate teams with the addition of football (2011), women's ice hockey (2012-13), men's and women's swimming (2014-15), women's beach volleyball (2015-16), men's ice hockey (2016-17), acrobatics & tumbling (2022), and most recently men’s beach volleyball Fall (2022).
The first ten years, the University athletic department operated as an independent playing the toughest teams in the region to try and acquire an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. In 2000, the women’s soccer team received the school’s first NCAA bid and advanced to the “sweet sixteen.”
In order for the department to continue their progressive advancement in athletics, Adams played a major role in launching the North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC), serving as the first chairman of the Athletic Directors' Committee and as the Executive Committee's chairman from 2004-06. In its three years in the conference, Stevenson won the conference's President's Cup all three seasons. Adams’ men’s basketball team that he coached in 1995-96 was the first men’s team at SU to be selected to the NCAA tournament receiving an at-large bid and advancing to the second round. His 1996-97 team became the first SU team to record back-to-back NCAA bids as they won the automatic bid that winter.
In addition, Adams spearheaded the Mustangs' move from the North Eastern Athletic Conference (2004-07) and the Capital Athletic Conference (2007-11) to its current membership in the Middle Atlantic Conferences where Adams served as the Chair of the Athletic Directors Board from 2018-2021. He also was instrumental in the founding of the Continental Volleyball Conference for the men's volleyball team, the Colonial Hockey Conference (CHC) for women’s ice hockey, and the United Collegiate Hockey Conference (UCHC) for both men’s and women’s ice hockey.
In five seasons in the CAC, the Mustangs won conference championships in men's lacrosse (2010), women's soccer (2010) and men's golf (2011). In the CHC and in the CVC, the Mustangs earned conference championships both in 2016.
Since joining the MAC in 2012, Stevenson has won eight championships in women's volleyball with titles in (2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019), seven championships in men's lacrosse (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019) as well as six in men's golf (2013, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022), four in women’s ice hockey (2018, 2020, 2021, 2022), three in women’s golf (2015, 2016, 2019), two in men’s ice hockey (2018, 2021), men’s indoor track (2018, 2019), men’s tennis (2019, 2021), and men’s outdoor track (2018,2019), and one championship in women's lacrosse (2014), women’s basketball (2015), women’s soccer (2014), men’s volleyball (2018), men’s football (2016).
Overall, under Adams’ direction, the Mustangs have earned 37 NCAA Tournament invitations including several “Elite Eight” bids, four “Final Four” appearances (three in men’s lacrosse 2009, 2010, 2012, and in one men’s indoor volleyball 2016), and one National Championship (men’s lacrosse 2013). The Mustangs also boast an individual national champion with Patrick Watson winning the 2019 NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships.
Adams' career in intercollegiate athletics began shortly after his graduation from York College of Pennsylvania where he was a three-year member of the men's basketball program, serving as co-captain during the 1989-90 season.
Following his graduation, he remained at his alma mater as an assistant coach form men’s basketball and the head women’s tennis coach from 1989-94. Administratively, Adams worked as an Admissions Counselor and later the Assistant Director of Admissions. During that time, the Spartans basketball team was regionally ranked in four of his five seasons and nationally ranked for two. In addition, Adams women’s tennis team received regional recognition while a few of his players were recognized nationally. Adams received CAC Coach of the Year honors in 1994.
Adams served as the men’s and women’s tennis coach from 1994-1997 and served as the head men's basketball coach at Stevenson for 17 years from 1994 to 2011 totaling 138 wins. He led the Mustangs to two-straight appearances in the NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Championship in 2006 and 2007 as well as the Pride of Maryland Championship in 2005.