Gary Bruce Williams (born March 4, 1945) is an American university administrator and former

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

coach. He served as the head coach at the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the Univ ...

, the

Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private university, private Catholic Jesuits, Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1863 by the Society of Jesus, a Catholic Religious order (Catholic), religious order, t ...

, and

American University The American University (AU or American) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Its main campus spans 90-acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, in the Spri ...

. In 2002, he led

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

to win the NCAA tournament championship. Williams retired after the 2010–11 season. On March 25, 2014, Williams was elected to the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. In April of the same year, he was also voted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, making him the first coach in history to be inducted into both institutions in the same year.

Playing career

Williams played for Maryland as the starting

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the Basketball positions, five positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position and is usually the shortest player ...

under coach Bud Millikan. He was a member of the 1966 Charlotte Invitational Tournament championship team and the 1965

Sugar Bowl The Sugar Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in New Orleans, Louisiana. Played annually since January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Orange Bowl and Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in the country, surpassed only ...

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 South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

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 marketing.Williams, Gary, and David A. Vise. Sweet Redemption: How Gary Williams and Maryland Beat Death and Despair to Win the NCAA Basketball Championship. nited States Sports Pub. L.L.C., 2002. Print. While at the University of Maryland, Williams was a member of Phi Delta Theta fraternity.

Coaching career

Early coaching career

Prior to entering the college ranks, Williams was a successful high school basketball coach at Woodrow Wilson High School in

Camden, New Jersey Camden is a City (New Jersey), city in Camden County, New Jersey, Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is part of the Delaware Valley metropolitan region. The city was incorporated on February 13, 1828.Snyder, John P''The Story of ...

. He won a NJSIAA state championship as head varsity coach at Wilson High. With his chance to learn under Tom Davis (whom Williams got to know when Davis was an assistant coach at Maryland), Williams left to become an assistant basketball coach at

Lafayette College Lafayette College is a private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Easton, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1826 by James Madison Porter and other citizens in Easton, the college first held classes in 18 ...

in 1971 and continued at

in 1977 until he became a head coach. He was also the head soccer coach at Lafayette College during his assistant coaching job. Williams held three head coaching positions prior to Maryland. In 1978, Williams obtained his first head coaching position at

. He led American to relative success, coaching them to several NIT berths. In 1982, Williams returned to

, leading the Eagles to two NCAA tournament appearances, and one NIT appearance in his four-year tenure. In 1986, Williams took over at Ohio State of the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

. Under Williams, the Buckeyes advanced to one NCAA tournament appearance and two NIT appearances in three seasons.

Maryland

The Maryland Terrapins, an original member of the

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, the ACC's eighteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athlet ...

, announced Williams as its next head coach on June 13, 1989. The basketball program and the Maryland athletic program as a whole were still reeling from the aftershock of the 1986 death of Maryland basketball star Len Bias and struggles under coach Bob Wade, a former high school coach from

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

. Williams coached the 1989–90 team to a respectable 18–13 record and an NIT berth. However, in March 1990, the NCAA imposed harsh sanctions on the school for several major violations, mostly dating to the Wade era. Maryland was banned from postseason play in 1991 and 1992, and was kicked off live television for 1990–91. Additionally, Maryland docked itself several scholarships over two years. With his recruiting efforts severely hamstrung, Williams found it very difficult to rebuild the program. However, with the help of Walt Williams, Maryland stayed competitive through a low point of the program's history. After a surprise appearance in the 1994 Sweet 16, the Terrapins were a fixture in the national rankings until 2005. Maryland's teams during this era featured future NBA players such as Joe Smith, Steve Francis, Juan Dixon, Steve Blake, Lonny Baxter, Keith Booth, Terence Morris and Chris Wilcox, and a cast of supportive role players, exemplified by Byron Mouton. In 2001, Williams led Maryland to the first Final Four in school history, losing to Duke in the semifinals. On April 1, 2002, Williams led the Terrapins to their first NCAA National Championship, defeating

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

64–52. Williams was the first coach to win a national championship without a single McDonald's All American on the roster since its inception. 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. The 2002 team also won a school-record 32 games, as well as the school's first outright ACC title in 22 years—only the third time since 1981 that a team from North Carolina hadn't won at least a share of the title. In March 2004, Maryland won the ACC Tournament Title, defeating Duke 95–87, led by Tournament MVP John Gilchrist. In the 2004–2005 season, Maryland failed to make the NCAA tournament for the first time since the 1993–1994 season, which was then the longest streak in the ACC. This began a relatively mediocre stretch for Maryland, where they failed to make the tournament three out of the next five years. In 2010, the Terrapins shared the regular-season conference title with Duke. The same season, Williams also earned his second ACC Coach of the Year award. 2011 saw the Terrapins struggle to a 19–14 mark, failing to make the post-season for the first time since 1993. On May 5, 2011, Williams announced his decision to retire from coaching basketball. He has remained with the Maryland athletic department as Assistant Athletic Director and Special Assistant to the Athletic Director. On January 26, 2012; Maryland honored Williams by renaming the playing surface at the XFINITY Center "Gary Willams Court."

Coaching profile

In March 2010, Williams was the 5th winningest active coach in the country and the 3rd winningest coach all-time in the ACC (behind only Dean Smith and

Mike Krzyzewski Michael William Krzyzewski ( , ; born February 13, 1947), nicknamed "Coach K", is an American former college basketball coach. He served as the head coach at Duke University from 1980–81 Duke Blue Devils men's basketball team, 1980 to 2021� ...

). In his 31 years as a head coach, Williams has amassed an overall record of 654–368 (.640) and 447–240 (.651) at Maryland. He passed Lefty Driesell as the school's winningest coach in 2006. Williams has an overall NCAA tournament record of 29–16 (.644), 25–13 (.658) at his alma mater. His 29 wins in the NCAA tournament places him seventh among active coaches in that category. Williams has coached Maryland to fourteen NCAA tournament appearances, including a streak of eleven consecutive appearances (1993–94 season to 2003–04 season), as well as four post season NIT appearances, allowing Maryland to own the longest current consecutive streak of postseason appearances in the ACC ( Wake Forest, who had previously had the longest active streak, failed to qualify for the postseason in 2007). Additionally, Williams has 71 wins over top 25 ranked opponents, 33 wins over top 10 ranked opponents (at least one every season from 96–97 to 09–10), 20 wins over top 5 opponents, three ACC regular season titles (co-champions in 1995 and 2010, and outright champions in 2002), and an ACC tournament title (2004). Williams' NCAA Tournament accomplishments include seven Sweet Sixteens, two Elite Eights, two Final Fours, and a national championship in 2002. Williams also leads active coaches with seven wins over top-ranked teams, the most recent coming against

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

on January 19, 2008. 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 is tied with Rick Pitino for 6th among active coaches with 17 career 20-win seasons. Williams had a discordant relationship with his former athletic director, Debbie Yow, who is now the athletic director at

North Carolina State University North Carolina State University (NC State, North Carolina State, NC State University, or NCSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1887 and p ...

. In April 2011, Yow, after hiring

Mark Gottfried Mark Frederick Gottfried (born January 20, 1964) is an American men's college basketball coach (basketball), coach, basketball podcaster, and former player who most recently served as head coach of the Cal State Northridge Matadors men's basketba ...

to be the new head coach of the Wolfpack basketball team, accused the Maryland coach of attempting to "sabotage" N.C. State's search process by advising candidates that she was difficult to work with. Williams immediately denied the accusation.

Milestones since 2005–06 season

A home victory over

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

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 January 21, 2006, a home victory over

Virginia Tech The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, commonly referred to as Virginia Tech (VT), is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States ...

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 Georgia Tech gave him third place outright. On February 7, 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 February 3, 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

have won more conference games. On February 6, 2008, a 70–65 road victory over

gave Williams his 600th win. Gary Williams is one of only 8 active NCAA basketball head coaches with at least 600 wins. On November 21, 2008, an 89–74 overtime home victory over

Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provinces and territories of Ca ...

gave Williams his 400th victory at his alma mater. In ACC history, Williams stands alongside Smith and Krzyzewski as the only coaches to amass this number of wins. On February 21, 2009, Williams upset #3 (AP/ESPN Coaches Polls)

University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the Public university, public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referre ...

, 88–85 in overtime. Then on March 12, Williams' Terps earned another victory over a top 10 opponent, defeating #8 Wake Forest, the second-seeded team, 75–64 in the quarterfinals of the 2009 ACC tournament, following a 74–69 victory over N.C. State in the opening round. The victory over the Demon Deacons was Williams' 17th ACC Tournament victory, tying Lefty Driesell for the most in school history. Williams coached in his 1,000th game on January 22, 2010, an 88–64 victory over NC State. On March 9, 2010, he was named the ACC coach of the year. On March 19, 2010, Williams coached Maryland (#4 rank in the Midwest Region) to a first-round victory, by a score of 89–77, over Houston (#13 rank in the Midwest Region) in the opening round of the 2010 NCAA Men's Basketball Championship. Two days later, Williams engineered a comeback in the final seconds of the second-round game against Michigan State, only to lose to a

buzzer beater In timed sports, a buzzer beater is a successful shot made as the clock expires at the end of a period or at the end of the game, leaving zero seconds remaining. A buzzer sounds whenever a game clock expires, hence the name "buzzer beater." In b ...

shot by Korie Lucious. The final score was 85–83. A win would have put Williams in the Sweet Sixteen for the 9th time in his coaching career. On March 25, 2014, Williams was elected to the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. In April of the same year, he was also voted into the

Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as basketball's most complete library, in addition to promoting and pre ...

, making him the first coach in history to be inducted into both institutions in the same year.

Personal life

Williams grew up in Collingswood,

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

, a suburb of

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, where he attended Collingswood High School. He was married to Diane McMillen from 1968 to 1990. Williams has a daughter and three grandchildren. He remarried in April 2011. Williams suffers from

hyperhidrosis Hyperhidrosis is a medical condition in which a person exhibits excessive perspiration, sweating, more than is required for the Thermoregulation, regulation of body temperature. Although it is primarily a physical burden, hyperhidrosis can deterio ...

, and has devoted his time to raising awareness of the ailment and advocating for greater research efforts to find treatments.

Trademarks

Coaching style

Williams exclusively ran 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 by both his former coach Bud Millikan, who utilized an aggressive man-to-man scheme, and Tom Davis who helped teach Williams the more aggressive trapping schemes in addition to the fast break offense.

Recruiting style

Williams gained a reputation as a recruiter who almost exclusively went after less-heralded players and develops them into Division I talents. 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." Much of his success in the years since the university recovered from NCAA sanctions was from players that fit that mold. In 2009, ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' published an extensive exposé on Williams' tenure from the 2002 title year to mid-season 2008–09. The three-part feature analyzed Williams' recruiting process, and noted how local prep basketball talent went elsewhere for college. It cited that Williams refused to associate closely with local AAU basketball program directors and coaches, due to their questionable reputations. The ''Post'' asserted this reticence stemmed from the Rudy Gay recruiting episode. The '' Baltimore Sun'' staff writers covering Maryland have challenged Williams' recruiting procedures, but also noted his personality reflects whom he recruits.http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/college/basketball/mens/bal-sp.maese15mar15,0,5806601.column

Head coaching record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Gary 1945 births Living people American Eagles men's basketball coaches American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from New Jersey Basketball players from Camden County, New Jersey Boston College Eagles men's basketball coaches Collingswood High School alumni College men's basketball head coaches in the United States High school basketball coaches in the United States Lafayette Leopards men's basketball coaches Lafayette Leopards men's soccer coaches Maryland Terrapins athletic directors Maryland Terrapins men's basketball coaches Maryland Terrapins men's basketball players Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductees National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame inductees Ohio State Buckeyes men's basketball coaches People from Collingswood, New Jersey Point guards American soccer coaches Phi Delta Theta members 20th-century American sportsmen