Paige Adams

(4/22/26) Paige Adams (35) is the former head girls’ basketball coach at Cold Springs High School in Cullman County, Alabama.

She was hired in March 2025 as the varsity girls’ basketball coach (her first season as head coach) and she led the Lady Eagles to a 23-11 record.

The team won the area championship, advanced through the playoffs (including the Northwest Regional), and reached the AHSAA Class 2A state championship game on March 6, 2026, where they finished as runners-up (losing to North Sand Mountain).

Adams is a 2009 graduate of Cold Springs High School, where she played basketball and helped the team win back-to-back state titles in 2008 and 2009. She previously served as an assistant coach at Cold Springs and had coaching experience at Holly Pond High School (where she also resigned abruptly years earlier).

Resignation and Arrest

On March 25, 2026, Adams abruptly resigned during a special-called meeting of the Cullman County Board of Education, shortly after the school received a formal complaint.

Superintendent Dr. Shane Barnette stated it was the first such complaint received, an investigation was launched immediately, Adams was escorted from campus, school materials were returned, and the matter was referred to authorities. Her teaching contracts and coaching supplements were terminated.

On April 21, 2026, Adams was arrested by the Cullman County Sheriff’s Office following a grand jury indictment.

She faces:

• 1 count of a school employee engaging in a sex act or deviant sexual intercourse with a student (felony)

• 1 count of a school employee having sexual contact with a student under 19 (felony)

• 30 counts of a school employee distributing obscene material to a student (misdemeanors)

The maximum combined sentence for these charges is reportedly 31 years. Court records with further details were not immediately available in initial reports, and it is unclear if the student was from Cold Springs or another school.

After being arrested Tuesday, Adams was taken to the Cullman County Jail, where she was released on $225,000 bond and required to wear an electronic monitor.

An arraignment is scheduled for May 22, 2026.

Her husband, Drew Adams, reportedly filed for divorce after her resignation and he coaches the boys’ basketball team at the school.