The562’s coverage of Lakewood Athletics is sponsored by J.P. Crawford, Class of 2013.
There will be a new face coaching the Lakewood girls’ volleyball team in 2024, but a familiar name. The Lancers administration on Thursday officially announced the hire of Adam Wadley as the new coach of the premier program on campus, elevating the 11-year assistant coach to the head coaching position. Wadley is also the son of Mike Wadley, the legendary coach who had helmed the program for 20 years, winning 500 games (most in league history) and claiming the school’s only state title in 2007.
“His biggest thing is, ‘I’m Adam Wadley, I’m not Mike,’” said Lakewood assistant principal over athletics Lloyd Wilson. The interview process was conducted by Wilson and Lakewood principal Mona Merlo. “He’s not trying to ride his dad’s coattails. He’s going to do some different things, and we’re excited about that. He’s been on the bench for 11 years and he’s ready.”
Adam Wadley is one of the city’s bright young coaching prospects, with a teaching credential in hand and the goal of being a career teacher-coach. He’s been an assistant under Mike Wadley with the Lancers’ girls’ program for 11 years, but also assisting as a coach on the LBCC men’s volleyball 2014 state championship, and as a successful club coach. He’s also been the Lakewood boys’ volleyball coach the last two seasons.
Adam said that while the interview process was with Wilson and Merlo and they made the decision, the call that he’d gotten the job came from his dad.
“I thought it was a regular call like he needed me to pick something up,” he said. “I picked up and he said, ‘Hey is this Adam Wadley? This is Mike Wadley. I’m calling to offer you the job.’ It was silly but very heartfelt, that’s how our relationship is. Him being my mentor as long as I can remember, it was just a surreal moment.”
Wadley graduated Wilson in 2013 and began coaching at Lakewood as an assistant that Summer, serving as an assistant ever since. He said that at the time he didn’t know that coaching would become his calling as it had for his father before him.
“When I first started I just wanted to make some extra money,” he said. “My dad has asked me to do more in the program–run practices, fundraise, work on the schedule. And after five or six years of that and having some success in league and at the club level, it started feeling like, ‘I can do this. I want to do this. I can make my own name and not just be Mike Wadley’s son.’”
Mike Wadley said it was a surreal moment getting the call from Wilson that they wanted him to offer Adam the job.
“That was cool, how often do you get to do something like that?” he said. “I always said, the only two people I’d want to take over for me would be Adam or Megan Moena, who is a little busy coaching USC. It’s a great feeling. I know that I’m officially done now and can close that chapter, and it’s his team now.”
Adam Wadley said that while 2023 was a disappointing season for the Lancers, he’s bullish about the future.
“It was a weird season, the first time in 20 something years we were under .500 and not competing for a league championship,” he said. “I’m excited for the state of the program. I have a lot of returning players who get along really well. Having Lala Hall as a returning four-year varsity player will help a lot, and we’ll have a lot of sophomores, juniors, and maybe freshmen starting too. We’ll be a little raw in the beginning, but how we progress through the year should be exciting.”
Subscribe to the562 on GiveButter to make a recurring donation and keep Long Beach sports coverage free!
