Adrienne Shibles, one of the most prominent figures in women’s college basketball, has been named head coach of the Colby women’s basketball program to begin the 2026-2027 academic year.
A member of the New England Basketball Hall of Fame and former NCAA DIII Coach of the Year, Shibles brings nearly 30 years of collegiate coaching experience to Colby, including head-coaching positions at DI Dartmouth College and Bowdoin and Swarthmore. She has a career record of 419-163 (.720) at the Division III level.
"We are thrilled to welcome Adrienne Shibles back to Mayflower Hill to lead Colby Women's Basketball,” said Amanda DeMartino, Harold Alfond Director of Athletics. “Adrienne is a proven winner, a tireless mentor, and a true leader in Maine basketball history whose track record at the highest levels of Division III speaks for itself. Her exceptional ability to recruit and develop elite student-athletes, paired with her deep alignment with Colby's values and vision for excellence, makes her the ideal leader for our program. We couldn't be more excited for the future of Colby Women’s Basketball under her leadership."
Shibles became the winningest coach in Bowdoin women’s basketball history with 281 victories, a program record, winning over 80 percent of her games. She led the Polar Bears to 11 NCAA Tournament appearances and eight Sweet Sixteen appearances, and in the 2018-2019 season, the team logged a 31–2 record and a perfect 10–0 in conference play.
Following her tenure at Bowdoin, Shibles served as head coach at Dartmouth for two seasons before returning to her alma mater, Bates College, in 2023, where she assumed senior leadership positions in the athletics department.
Shibles’ proven ability to build a strong team has earned her national acclaim. She was named the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Division III National Coach of the Year in 2019, along with two Regional Coach of the Year and two NESCAC Coach of the Year honors. She also served as the head coach for the 2021 USA Basketball Women’s Under-16 National Team.
Shibles, who has been inducted into the Maine Basketball Hall of Fame and the Maine Sports Hall of Fame, looks forward to bringing her experience and passion back to the bench.
“I am incredibly inspired by the innovative spirit, ambition, and commitment to excellence that define the Colby community,” she said. “It’s the perfect fit for me.”
Her return is a full-circle homecoming. Raised in the nearby farming community of Knox, just 25 miles from Waterville, she was a standout player at Mount View High School in Thorndike before scoring more than 1,000 career points as a student-athlete at Bates. After graduation, she began her coaching career at Colby as an assistant coach for both the women’s basketball and women’s soccer programs.
In her first head-coaching opportunity at Swarthmore, she wasted little time leaving her mark, transforming the program from worst to first in just five years and leading the Garnet to the Centennial Conference Championship and the program’s only NCAA tournament appearance. She still stands as the program’s winningest coach, accumulating 138 wins across nine seasons.
Throughout her professional career, it has been important for Shibles to connect with her surrounding community and empower local youth. She has run girls’ basketball camps for over 23 years and looks forward to engaging the Waterville community at her first opportunity.
“I am excited to lead this group of young women and to build on the tremendous potential within this program,” Shibles said.
“Mayflower Hill is where I began my coaching career, and I am enormously thankful to Dick Whitmore and Carol Anne Beach ’88, who were both supervisors and mentors and had a tremendous impact on my career and the coach I am today. I will always be grateful to the Bates and Bowdoin communities, and to the many people who have made my career in athletics so special. Having grown up near Waterville, returning to Colby brings me closer to family and makes this homecoming especially meaningful.”
