Gary Williams

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Gary Williams

Title Head coach
College Maryland
Sport Basketball
Born March 4, 1945 (age 62)
Place of birth Collingswood, New Jersey
Career Highlights
Overall 585-328 (.640)
Championships
NCAA Championship
(2002)
ACC Tournament Champion
(2004)
ACC Regular Season Champion
(1995, 2002)
Big East Regular Season Champion
(1983)
Awards
National Coach of the Year (2002)
Coaching positions
1978-1982
1982-1986
1986-1989
1989-present		 American University
Boston College
Ohio State
Maryland

Gary B. Williams (born March 4, 1945 in Collingswood, New Jersey, United States) is the current head coach of the University of Maryland's Men's basketball team.

Contents

[edit] Playing career

Williams played for Maryland as the starting point guard under coach Bud Millikan. He was a member of the 1966 Charlotte Invitational Tournament championship team and the 1965 Sugar Bowl Tournament championship team. He set a Maryland record for field goal percentage, going 8-for-8 from the field in an ACC game against South Carolina in 1966 (35 years later a Williams pupil, Lonny Baxter, would break that record, hitting all ten of his field goal attempts.) Williams was the Maryland team captain in 1967. He graduated in 1968 with a B.S. in Business.

[edit] Coaching career before Maryland

Prior to entering the college ranks, Williams was a successful high school basketball coach at Woodrow Wilson High School in Camden, New Jersey before becoming an assistant basketball coach at Lafayette College in 1972 and Boston College in 1973. In 1978, Williams obtained the head coaching position at American University. He would go on to lead American to relative success, coaching them to several NIT berths. In 1982, Williams returned to Boston College as the head coach, and lead them to two NCAA tournament appearances, and one NIT appearance in his 4 year tenure. In 1986, Williams took the head coaching position at Ohio State. Williams would take Ohio State to one NCAA tournament appearance, and two NIT appearances.

[edit] Tenure at Maryland

Williams was announced as head coach of Maryland on June 13, 1989. The basketball program and the Maryland athletic program as a whole was still reeling from the aftershock of the 1986 death of Maryland basketball star Len Bias. Williams coached the 1989-90 squad to a respectable 18-13 record and an NIT berth. However, the following year saw the beginning of NCAA-imposed sanctions on the school for actions committed under previous coach Bob Wade. Maryland received a three-year postseason ban and a television ban, punishments that hampered the rebuilding process. With the help of highly regarded local standout Walt Williams, Maryland stayed competitive through a low-point of the program.

Williams coached the Terrapins to increasing success through out the 1990s and early 2000s. In 2002, Williams lead the Terrapins to the NCAA National Championship, defeating Indiana 64-52. He became the first coach to direct his alma mater to a national title since Norm Sloan accomplished the feat with North Carolina State in 1974.

As of March 2007, Coach Williams is the 8th winningest active coach in the country and the 3rd winningest coach all-time in the ACC. In his 29 years, Williams has amassed an overall record of 585-328 (.640) and 377-200 (.653) at Maryland. He has an overall NCAA tournament record of 27-14 (.659, ninth among active coaches), 23-11 at his alma mater. Williams has coached Maryland to twelve NCAA tournament appearances, including a streak of eleven consecutive appearances (1994-2004), as well as three postseason NIT appearances, allowing Maryland to own the longest current consecutive streak of postseason appearances in the ACC (Wake Forest, the previous record holder, failed to qualify for the postseason in 2006-07.) Additionally, Williams has sixty-five wins over top-25 ranked opponents, 14 wins over top-10 ranked opponents, two ACC regular season titles (one outright), an ACC tournament title, seven Sweet Sixteens, two Elite Eights, two Final Fours, and a national championship. Williams also leads active coaches with six wins over top-ranked teams, the most recent coming against Florida on December 10, 2003. Since 1995, Coach Williams and Maryland have averaged 22.5 wins per season. Williams has led the Terrapins to at least 20 wins in 10 of the last 13 seasons and ranks 6th among active coaches with 16 career 20-win seasons.

A home victory over Virginia on January 19, 2005, moved Williams into a tie with former Virginia head coach Terry Holland as the fifth winningest coach in ACC history. On 21 January 2006, a home victory over Virginia Tech earned Williams his 142nd ACC win, moving him into a tie with former Carolina head coach Frank McGuire for third place in that category. Four nights later, a victory over the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets gave him third place outright.

On 7 February 2006, a 76-65 home victory over Virginia gave Williams his 349th win, allowing him to pass Lefty Driesell as the university's all-time winningest head coach. On 3 February 2007, a road victory over Wake Forest earned Williams his 150th ACC victory. He is the third coach in conference history to accomplish this feat; only Dean Smith and Mike Krzyzewski have won more conference games.

[edit] Trademarks

Williams exclusively runs the flex offense, with a strong emphasis on first getting the ball inside to the post, and once the opposing defense collapses, distributing the ball to the perimeter. On defense, he favors a highly physical, pressing and trapping style, using turnovers to key the offense through the fast break. His defensive philosophy is inspired largely by the Jack Ramsay-coached St. Joseph's teams he watched while growing up in the Philadelphia area.

He has drawn a great deal of both criticism and humor for his on-court demeanor. He is also known for being incredibly animated towards his bench, especially when one of his on-court players has a miscue. There are followers of the program who affirm that these acts are merely a function of Williams' competitive drive, and on the whole, these acts belie Williams' gift as a teacher of the game. Juan Dixon, starting shooting guard on Maryland's national championship team, spoke highly of Williams in the introduction to the book Sweet Redemption, labeling him as a father-figure.

Williams has gained a reputation as a recruiter who almost exclusively goes after less-heralded players ("diamonds in the rough") and develops them into major Division I players. An opposing coach, Dave Odom, once said in a newspaper interview that Williams "has made a living off of the player who is maybe one or two tools short of the complete package (say, height or leaping ability), but who competes hard and plays with a chip on his shoulder." True enough, much of his success in the years since the university worked itself out of NCAA sanctions is due to players that fit that mold. Williams has vehemently defended his recruiting methods on numerous occasions; in a 2001 ESPN interview, Williams remarked, "Satisfaction in your job to me isn't just getting some list and saying, 'OK, that guy is rated top in the country. OK, we have to recruit him to be a good coaching staff'...Why not be a coach instead of a used car salesman."1

[edit] Coaching tree and NBA picks

Many of Williams' former assistants have gone on to earn head coaching positions. These include:

Rick Barnes - an assistant to Williams at Ohio State. Has had successful tenures at Providence and Clemson, and is currently the head coach of Texas, whom he guided to the Final Four in 2003.

Fran Fraschilla - was also on Williams' Ohio State staff. Had a successful run at Manhattan. He also was the head coach at St. Johns and New Mexico. He now serves as an ESPN college basketball analyst.

Fran Dunphy - served as an assistant to Williams at American. During a seventeen year tenure at Penn, he won 310 games (a school record) and 10 Ivy League titles. Successor to John Chaney at Temple.

Jimmy Patsos - served on Williams' staff at Maryland from 1991 to 2004. Now the head coach at Loyola.

Mike Lonergan - former national championship-winning head coach at The Catholic University of America who was on Williams' Maryland staff during the 2004-05 season. Successor to Tom Brennan at Vermont.

Dave Dickerson - served on Williams' staff at Maryland from 1996 to 2005. Now the head coach at Tulane University.

28 of Williams' players have been drafted by the NBA. This includes four lottery picks since 1992. Among the more prominent names:

† - recruited by Williams, but not coached by him.

In addition, Šarūnas Jasikevičius, who played for Williams in the late 1990's, was signed by the Indiana Pacers in the summer of 2005. More recently, Chris McCray, who was academically ineligible to play basketball the majority of his senior year at Maryland, was not picked in the NBA draft, but signed a free agent contract with the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks in September 2006.

[edit] Year-by-Year Head Coaching Record

Season School Record (conference) / Finish Record (overall) Postseason
1978-79 American 7-4 / 4th 14-13 --
1979-80 American 5-6 / 5th 13-14 --
1980-81 American 11-0 / 1st 24-6 NIT, First Round (0-1)
1981-82 American 8-3 / 3rd 21-9 NIT, First Round (0-1)
1982-83 Boston College 12-4 / 1st 23-7 NCAA, Second Round (1-1)
1983-84 Boston College 8-8 / 4th 18-12 NIT, Second Round (1-1)
1984-85 Boston College 7-9 / 6th 20-11 NCAA, Regional Semifinal (2-1)
1985-86 Boston College 4-12 / 7th 13-15 --
1986-87 Ohio State 9-9 / 6th 20-13 NCAA, Second Round (1-1)
1987-88 Ohio State 9-9 / 6th 20-13 NIT, Runner-Up (4-1)
1988-89 Ohio State 6-12 / 8th 19-15 NIT, Third Round (2-1)
1989-90 Maryland 6-8 / T-5th 19-14 NIT, Second Round (1-1)
1990-91 Maryland 5-9 / T-7th 16-12 No postseason due to NCAA sanctions.
1991-92 Maryland 5-11 / 8th 14-15 --
1992-93 Maryland 2-14 / 8th 12-16 --
1993-94 Maryland 8-8 / T-4th 18-12 NCAA, Regional Semifinal (2-1)
1994-95 Maryland 12-4 / T-1st 26-8 NCAA, Regional Semifinal (2-1)
1995-96 Maryland 8-8 / T-4th 17-13 NCAA, First Round (0-1)
1996-97 Maryland 9-7 / T-4th 21-11 NCAA, First Round (0-1)
1997-98 Maryland 10-6 / 3rd 21-11 NCAA, Regional Semifinal (2-1)
1998-99 Maryland 13-3 / 2nd 28-6 NCAA, Regional Semifinal (2-1)
1999-00 Maryland 11-5 / 2nd 25-10 NCAA, Second Round (1-1)
2000-01 Maryland 10-6 / 3rd 25-11 NCAA, National Semifinal (4-1)
2001-02 Maryland 15-1 / 1st 32-4 NCAA, National Champions (6-0)
2002-03 Maryland 11-5 / T-2nd 21-10 NCAA, Regional Semifinal (2-1)
2003-04 Maryland 7-9 / T-6th 20-12 NCAA, Second Round (1-1)
2004-05 Maryland 7-9 / T-6th 19-13 NIT, Semifinals (3-1)
2005-06 Maryland 8-8 / 6th 19-13 NIT, First Round (0-1)
2006-07 Maryland 10-6 / T-3rd 25-9 NCAA, Second Round (1-1)

[edit] Other

Williams was married to Diane McMillen from 1968 to 1990. The union produced a daughter, Kristin, who works as a schoolteacher. Williams is a grandfather of three, including a pair of twins.

He is good friends with Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim, going back to his days at Boston College. Along with Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese, they play golf frequently.

Williams was one of thirteen college coaches to appear in EA Sports' NCAA March Madness 2004. As part of the "Coaches Council", he imparted information and guidance to the gamer.

He has been a member of the University of Maryland's Alumni Hall of Fame since June 2005.

[edit] External links

Preceded by
Tom Davis		 Boston College Eagles
Head Basketball Coach
1982–1986		 Succeeded by
Jim O'Brien
Preceded by
Eldon Miller		 Ohio State Buckeyes
Men's Head Basketball Coach
1986–1989		 Succeeded by
Randy Ayers
Preceded by
Bob Wade		 Maryland Terrapins
Men's Head Basketball Coach
1989–		 Succeeded by
Current


Springston • W. Young • Smith • Cassell • Kalijarvi • Boyd • Cassell • Schulze • Carrasco • J. Williams • Kyber • T. Young • Lynam • G. Williams • Tapscott • Knoche • Perry • Jones

Higgins • Crowley • McNally • Urban • Coady • McClellan • Martin • Power • Cousy • Daly • Zuffelato • Davis • Williams • O'Brien • Skinner

Huddleson • Kibler • Raymond • St. John • Trautman • Olsen • Dye • Stahl • Taylor • Miller • Williams • Ayers • O'Brien • Matta

Shipley • Stewart • Millikan • Fellows • Driesell • Wade • Williams

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