Ryun Thomas Williams (born March 26, 1969) is an American college basketball coach who is the current head women's basketball coach at

Colorado State Colorado State University (Colorado State or CSU) is a public land-grant research university in Fort Collins, Colorado, United States. It is the flagship university of the Colorado State University System. It was founded in 1870 as Colorado Agr ...

Early life and college playing career

Born in

Gillette, Wyoming Gillette (, ''Help:Pronunciation respelling key, jih-LET'') is a city in and the county seat of Campbell County, Wyoming, United States. The town was founded in 1891 as a major railway town on the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad. The po ...

, Williams graduated from Campbell County High School and was awarded the Wyoming Mr. Basketball award in 1988. Williams played junior college basketball at

Sheridan College Sheridan College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning, formerly Sheridan College of Applied Arts and Technology, is a public polytechnic institute partnered with private Canadian College of Technology and Trades operating campuses ...

before transferring to the

University of South Dakota The University of South Dakota (USD) is a public research university in Vermillion, South Dakota, United States. Established by the Dakota Territory legislature in 1862, 27 years before the establishment of the state of South Dakota, USD is t ...

, where he played two seasons at

guard Guard or guards may refer to: Professional occupations * Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault * Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street * Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning * Prison gu ...

for the

South Dakota Coyotes The South Dakota Coyotes, also known as the USD Coyotes ( ), are the athletic teams for the University of South Dakota. Their team colors are vermilion and white. They have been members of Summit League of the NCAA's Division I since the 2011� ...

. Williams averaged 17.3 points and 2.3 rebound s in his junior season of 1990–91. As a senior in 1991–92, Williams averaged 9.4 points and 2.4 rebounds.

Coaching career

From 1993 to 1995, Williams was men's basketball assistant coach and women's volleyball head coach at Sheridan. Williams was women's basketball head coach at Sheridan from 1995 to 1998, during which he earned two Wyoming Conference Coach of the Year awards. Williams moved up to the NCAA Division II ranks as head coach at

Wayne State College Wayne State College (WSC) is a public college in Wayne, Nebraska. It is part of the Nebraska State College System and enrolls 4,202 students. The college opened as a public normal school in 1910 after the state purchased the private Nebraska Nor ...

in Nebraska in 1998. In ten seasons with Wayne State, Williams led the team to two NCAA Tournaments (2006 and 2008) and earned

Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference The Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level, which operates in the Upper Midwest of the United States. Nine of ...

Coach of the Year honors in 2006 for Wayne State's first NCAA Tournament appearance in history. In 2008, Williams returned to South Dakota to become women's basketball head coach, for his first Division I coaching position. At the time, South Dakota was moving up from Division II. In Williams's last season as head coach in 2011–12, South Dakota reached a 23–8 record and WNIT appearance, the most success for the program in its Division I era. Williams became head coach at

in 2012. Colorado State went 11–19 in his first season and improved to 25–8 in 2013–14, along with a

Mountain West Conference The Mountain West Conference (MW) is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States, participating in NCAA Division I. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The MW officially began operations on Ja ...

regular season title and WNIT appearance. Colorado State won the MW regular season and made the WNIT again in 2014–15. In 2015–16, Colorado State finished first in the MW for the third straight season, this time with an 18–0 conference record. For the first time since the 2001–02 season, Colorado State was ranked in the AP Poll. During his time at CSU, Williams has quickly surged to the winningest women's basketball coach in CSU history, and has registered 20 win seasons in 6 of his seasons at the helm, and a winning record in 7 out of 10 seasons. This includes 5 consecutive 20+ win seasons, 4 of which included regular season conference championships.

Head coaching record

Junior college

College

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Ryun 1969 births Living people American women's basketball coaches Basketball coaches from Wyoming Basketball players from Wyoming Colorado State Rams women's basketball coaches Junior college women's basketball coaches in the United States People from Gillette, Wyoming Sheridan Generals men's basketball coaches Sheridan Generals men's basketball players South Dakota Coyotes men's basketball players South Dakota Coyotes women's basketball coaches Wayne State Wildcats American men's basketball players Guards (basketball) 20th-century American sportsmen