BALTIMORE - Director of Athletics Brian Barrio did not have to search very far to replace the legendary Retriever bench boss Pete Caringi, Jr. Anthony Adams, '97, who has served on the Retriever staff for 26 years, including the last dozen as associate head coach, will take the reins from his former coach and mentor.

Both Caringi, Jr. – a high-scoring striker - and Adams – a stay-at-home fullback - attended Baltimore's Calvert Hall College High School.

We are proud to announce Anthony Adams '97 as the new head coach of @umbcmenssoccer pic.twitter.com/1JTabLTtwU

— UMBC Athletics (@UMBCAthletics) February 6, 2023

Adams has also served as the program's recruiting coordinator since 1997. He has helped recruit 113 student-athletes that earned all-conference honors, 19 of which earned the conference's top positional award. Twenty-nine Retrievers have earned All-Region honors and seven have been tabbed to All-America teams. Moreover, 32 members of the black-and-gold have signed professional soccer contracts.      

Adams earned four letters for UMBC from 1992-95 and was a starter in the backfield in his final three seasons. He earned the 1995 Retriever Club Scholarship Award, given each year to a junior student-athlete who demonstrates academic and athletic excellence and a commitment to UMBC's community service program.

The Dundalk, Md., native coached the Soccer Club of Baltimore and the Baltimore Bays, winning ten state championships, two regional titles and making two national semifinal appearances from 1996-2007. He was a member of the coaching staff of the USSF Development Academy's Baltimore Bays from 2008-13 and had five teams place in the Academy Final Eight over that time. He has been coaching with the Baltimore Celtic SC since 2013.

In 2013, Adams was inducted into the Greater Dundalk Hall of Fame and he received the Edward Finzel Honor Award for outstanding contributions to soccer in Maryland.

As of the spring of 2022, Adams was just one of two reported program assistants whose current NCAA Division I coaching tenures have reached the quarter-century mark.

The new Retriever mentor holds a USSF "A" coaching license. He earned a degree in history and a certificate in secondary education from UMBC in 1997 and completed his master's degree in management from the University of Maryland, University College (now University of Maryland, Global Campus) in 2007.

Adams' wife, Stephanie, was a former member of the sports medicine staff at UMBC. The couple has two daughters, Isabella Marika and Caroline Marie.

Assistant Coach Pete Caringi III and volunteer assistant Sam DeBone will remain on the men's soccer staff.