Keith Adkins
Here’s another great athlete and deadeye shooter turned great coach. We seem to see this a lot in our articles.
Keith Adkins helped lead Paintsville to three 15th Region championships (1985-1987) and one appearance in the KHSAA “Sweet Sixteen” Final Four (1987).
Adkins holds the Paintsville High School record of making 11 three-point field goals in one game (vs Pikeville, 11/22/88) en route to scoring a career-high 53 points in that game. He was an Honorable Mention All-State selection (1987), a 1st Team All-State pick, and the USA Today Kentucky Player of the Year (1988). He was also named Kentucky Male Athlete of the Year in 1988 for his performance in both basketball and baseball.
In 1988 he shot an amazing 53% from three point range while averaging over 32 ppg. That was the first year in Kentucky high school basketball for the three point shot. It came in handy for Paintsville that season, as they had lost seven players from the 1987 team that had gone on to the state semifinals.
Adkins credited a lot of his basketball play to his father Charlie, the baseball head coach and assistant basketball coach at Paintsville who had been a great baseball player at Morehead State. Coach Bill Mike Runyon said that Keith Adkins’ long range jumpers came easy to him, and that he was the best high school shooter he had ever seen play.
Adkins also excelled in the classroom, maintaining a 3.5 GPA. Charlie and Lois Adkins instilled a drive for academic excellence in Keith, knowing that it would play a part in his future endeavors.
Adkins played college basketball at Notre Dame (lettering in 1989 for Coach Digger Phelps) before transferring to UNC Wilmington, where he finished his college career (lettering in 1992 and 1993). He led the Sea Hawks in 3FG% twice (44% in 1991-92 and 47% in 1992-93). He holds the school record of 15 FTs made in one game (going 15 of 16 vs UNC Charlotte on 1/6/92). In 1992 he ranked second among players in NCAA Division 1 and first in school history in FT% in a season, shooting 92% from the line.
After his playing career he worked as an assistant coach at Pikeville College (now the University of Pikeville, 1994-95). He followed that year with two seasons at UNC Greensboro, where he helped lead them to one Big South Tournament championship (!996).
In 1997 he became an assistant coach at Campbellsville University, remaining in that position for three seasons (1997-2000). On April 7, 2000 he was named head basketball coach at Campbellsville, guiding the program for sixteen seasons (2000-2016). During his tenure the Tigers won 322 games, won two Mid-South Conference regular season championships (2010 and 2015), two Mid-South Tournament championships (2006 and 2015), won their first game in the NAIA National Tournament (vs Mobile, 2006), and made two appearances in the NAIA National Tournament “Fab Four” (2008 and 2016). He was named the Mid-South Conference Coach of the Year twice (2006 and 2015) and was the 205 NAIA Coach of the Year.
In June, 2016 Adkins was named the head basketball coach at Life University, where he coached them to an NAIA National Tournament runner-up finish in his first season (2016-17).
Adkins never needed to try to fill his father’s shoes as a baseball coach. He set his feet into the other game that had served him so well.
Keith Adkins was inducted into the Paintsville High School Alumni Association Hall of Fame in 2008.
