Former girls’ high school basketball coach hit with 32 sex charges, including ‘deviant sexual intercourse with a student’

A grand jury on Tuesday indicted a former Alabama high school girls’ basketball coach who’s facing 32 sex crime charges in connection with accusations that she sexually abused a student, according to multiple reports.

Paige Adams — former girls’ basketball coach at Cold Springs High School — was arrested Tuesday and booked into the Cullman County Jail, according to jail records.

Before the accusations surfaced, Adams was described as ‘a great role model for the young people of Cullman County.’

The 35-year-old was charged with two felony crimes: school employee engaging in a sex act or deviant sexual intercourse with a student and school employee having sexual contact with a student under the age of 19, AL.com reported.

Adams also faces 30 misdemeanor counts of a school employee distributing obscene material to a student.

Adams was released from jail after posting a $225,000 bond but is required to wear an electronic monitor.

“This 32-count grand jury indictment speaks for itself,” Cullman County District Attorney Champ Crocker told WIAT-TV Tuesday.

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WIAT obtained court records Wednesday stating that Adams asked the student to send her obscene material depicting sexual activity on at least two occasions, only days before she resigned March 25.

The outlet added that Adams sent obscene material to the student at least 28 times between Feb. 13 and March 9.

Adams — who was in her first year as the varsity girls’ basketball coach at Cold Springs High School after being hired in March 2025 — resigned last month, and she was “escorted from school property,” according to AL.com.

Cullman County Schools Superintendent Shane Barnette stated last month, “Our sole focus is protecting the students of Cullman County Schools. We are going to do what is always right, as we always have.”

1819 News reported that Barnette said of Adams, “This is the first formal complaint I have received regarding this employee. As soon as the concern was raised, an investigation was initiated. The employee chose to resign at that time.”

Before the accusations surfaced, Barnette called Adams “a great role model for the young people of Cullman County,” according to 1819 News.

WIAT reported that Adams’ husband filed for divorce April 6 — just two weeks before she was arrested.

Adams’ husband — the boys’ basketball coach at Cold Springs High School — requested sole custody of their child, according to WIAT.

According to court documents, Adams and her husband had been married since 2015, but they separated in March when she resigned.

In April 2025, Adams’ husband said he was excited that she was hired as the girls’ basketball coach at the same school as him.

Adams’ husband previously told the Cullman Tribune, “Now we can be at the same place on a nightly basis. Secondly, being a head coach can be difficult at times. Us being at the same place and being able to support each other through the ups and downs was important to us.”

“And lastly, getting to have a front-row seat to watch Paige starting her journey as the head girls’ coach at Cold Springs is special to me,” the husband said.

Authorities did not disclose the age of the alleged victim or if the teen was a student at Cold Springs High School.

Adams’ arraignment hearing is scheduled for May 22.

The Cullman County Sheriff’s Office and the Cullman County Attorney’s Office did not immediately respond to Blaze News’ request for comment.

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