Lessons from 35 years of teaching, coaching and leading athletics in Kentucky schools, delivered to the people who lead kids every day.
Coach Adkins spent 35 years as a teacher, coach and athletic director in Fayette County Public Schools, and led Lafayette High School to the 2001 KHSAA Boys' State Championship. He speaks to audiences who need practical motivation they can use the next morning.
Energy and purpose for the classroom, from someone who spent a career teaching kids to compete and to learn.
Building a program, handling a bad season, and keeping players and parents pulling the same direction.
Leading coaches, running a department, and holding standards when the pressure is on.
Culture, staff morale, and leading a building or district through change.
Pre-season and banquet talks on effort, trust, and playing for each other.
Career coaching recordFrom 1975 to 2001 Coach Adkins coached in Lexington: twenty years as an assistant at Tates Creek High School, then six years as head coach at Lafayette High School. Tates Creek was state runner-up in 1991, and his Lafayette Generals won the 2001 state championship.
Each talk can be set for a pre-season meeting, an in-service day, a banquet, or a locker room. Length and focus are set with you.
How a staff or a team builds a culture that outlasts any single season, and what a leader does every day to protect it.
What decades in coaching teach about losing, starting over, and getting back up. Aimed at anyone who is tired in the middle of the year.
Hiring, supporting coaches, and running a program that serves students first. Drawn from his time as an athletic director in Fayette County Public Schools.
Trust, roles, and shared goals for a team, a faculty, or a whole school staff.
Four-sport athlete, then Kentucky student managerLettered in four sports at Catlettsburg High School, then graduated from the University of Kentucky, where he was student manager for the basketball team under Coach Joe B. Hall.
Assistant boys' basketball coach, Tates Creek High SchoolTwenty years in Lexington as a teacher and assistant coach, also serving as athletic director and Health and Physical Education department chair. His junior varsity teams went 299–69, and Tates Creek finished as 1991 state runner-up.
Head boys' basketball coach, Lafayette High SchoolRebuilt the Generals program and was named 1999–2000 Eleventh Region Boys' Basketball Coach of the Year. His 2000–01 team won the King of the Bluegrass Tournament, then the 2001 KHSAA Boys' State Championship at Rupp Arena.
District athletic director, Fayette County Public SchoolsLed athletics for the district's high schools and middle schools, supporting more than 500 coaches and 5,000 student-athletes. Earlier served as athletic director at both Tates Creek and Lafayette.
Broadcaster and Kentucky volunteerCo-host of the KHSAA Scoreboard Show on the Kentucky Schoolboy Radio Network and a longtime color analyst. Also shot clock operator for UK men's basketball home games and spotter for UK football broadcasts.
Statewide and local serviceServed on the Bluegrass Sports Commission, the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government Parks and Recreation Board, the Tenth and Eleventh Region Policy Board, and the KHSAA Middle School Sports Commission.
Jim Host Youth Sports AwardHonored at the Bluegrass Sports Awards for outstanding contributions to young people in the community.
KHSAA Hall of Fame nomineeNominated for the Kentucky High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame, with recommendation letters from principals, a superintendent, fellow coaches and community leaders.
Coaches Court of HonorRecognized by the Kentucky Association of Basketball Coaches for his contributions to high school basketball in Kentucky.
Tell him about your group, your date, and what you want people to walk away with. Available across Kentucky.
