Joe Williams (1934 – March 26, 2022) was an American men's

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 was the head coach at

Jacksonville University Jacksonville University (JU) is a private university in Jacksonville, Florida, United States. Located in the city's Arlington (Jacksonville), Arlington district, the school was founded in 1934 as a two-year college and was known as Jacksonvill ...

from 1964 to 1970,

Furman University Furman University is a private university in Greenville, South Carolina, United States. Founded in 1826 and named after Baptist pastor Richard Furman, the Liberal arts college, liberal arts university is the oldest private institution of higher l ...

from 1970 to 1978, and

Florida State University Florida State University (FSU or Florida State) is a Public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preeminent university in the s ...

from 1978 to 1986.

Career

Williams notably led

Artis Gilmore Artis Gilmore Sr. (born September 21, 1949) is an American former professional basketball player who played in the American Basketball Association (ABA) and National Basketball Association (NBA). Gilmore was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Ba ...

and the

Dolphins A dolphin is an aquatic mammal in the cetacean clade Odontoceti (toothed whale). Dolphins belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontopori ...

to the final game of the 1970 NCAA tournament, where they lost 80–69 to

Sidney Wicks Sidney Wicks (born September 19, 1949) is an American former professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). A native of California, he played college basketball for the UCLA Bruins. Wicks was selected by the Portlan ...

and the

UCLA Bruins The UCLA Bruins are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Los Angeles. The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Big Ten Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF ...

, coached by

John Wooden John Robert Wooden (October 14, 1910 – June 4, 2010) was an American basketball coach and player. Nicknamed "the Wizard of Westwood", he won ten National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, nati ...

. Williams elected to leave the program after the loss for a more lucrative deal with Furman. During his eight-year tenure (1970-1978) at Furman, the Paladins made it to the NCAA Tournament five times (1970–71, 1972–73, 1973–74, 1974–75 and 1977–78); won the

Southern Conference The Southern Conference (SoCon) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I. Southern Conference College football, football teams c ...

Tournament five times (1970–71, 1972–73, 1973–74, 1974–75 and 1977–78) and the regular-season SoCon title three times (1973–74, 1974–75 and 1976–77). During his lifetime, Williams was one of only 25 head coaches to have led three different teams to the NCAA tournament. He is a 1994 inductee of the Jacksonville University athletic hall of fame, and a 1996 inductee of the Furman University Athletic Hall of Fame.

Personal life

Williams' son, Blake, was an assistant basketball coach at Furman University in 2010. A nephew,

Brian Johnson Brian Johnson (born 5 October 1947) is an English singer and songwriter. In 1980 at the age of 32, after the death of Bon Scott, he became the third lead singer of the Australian rock band AC/DC. Johnson was one of the founding members of th ...

, was an

MLB Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

pitcher. Williams died on March 26, 2022, from cancer at the age of 88.

Head coaching record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Joe Date of birth missing 1934 births 2022 deaths American men's basketball coaches Basketball coaches from Mississippi College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Deaths from cancer in Mississippi Florida State Seminoles men's basketball coaches Furman Paladins men's basketball coaches High school basketball coaches in Florida Jacksonville Dolphins men's basketball coaches People from Morton, Mississippi Tulane University alumni University of Florida alumni

Career

Personal life

Head coaching record

See also

References