Coach Gary Williams Bio

Since returning to the College Park campus in 1989, Gary Williams (Maryland '68) has led his alma mater's basketball program from a period of troubled times to an era of national prominence. With 11 NCAA Tournament berths in the last 12 seasons, seven Sweet Sixteen appearances, a pair of consecutive Final Four showings, and the 2002 national championship - the first of its kind in Maryland basketball history - Williams and his staff have literally forged what is now more than a decade of dominance in college basketball's most storied and competitive conference.

Now, with 334 victories as Maryland's head coach, Williams is on the cusp of becoming the Terrapins all-time winningest head coach. He needs 15 victories to eclipse the mark of former Terp mentor Charles "Lefty" Driesell, who amassed 348 victories in 17 seasons from 1969-70 to 1985-86. The Terrapins have averaged 23.5 wins per year since the 1996-97 season.

With 541 career victories in 27 seasons overall, Williams is the 12th-winningest active head coach in NCAA Division I men's basketball.

Williams was heralded as the national and Atlantic Coast Conference Coach of the Year during the Terps' 2002 championship run. He is one of just 11 active coaches in America to boast a national title and one of only three in the conference. He has become the fifth-winningest coach in ACC history after transforming the Maryland program into one of the nation's most formidable, and building a Baltimore-D.C. area following that has consistently resulted in packed arenas. After demolishing attendance records with sellout crowds during the final years of Maryland basketball at Cole Field House, Williams' Terps have finished in the top ten nationally in each of the last three seasons, ranking fifth in 2002-03 and 2003-04, and sixth in the country in 2004-05. The Terrapins played before a school-record 299,391 fans last season, averaging crowds of 16,632 and selling out 15 home contests.

In June of 2005, Williams received the University of Maryland's highest alumni honor as he, Connie Chung, Renaldo Nehemiah and others were inducted into the University of Maryland's Alumni Hall of Fame. Williams was inducted into the University of Maryland's Sports Hall of Fame in 1999. In January of 2005, Williams was named one of Washingtonian Magazine's `Washingtonians of the Year.' He joined others such as Washington D.C. mayor Anthony Williams and Tim Russert of NBC's Meet The Press on the prestigious list.

In September of 2004, Williams joined Washington Redskins great Darrell Green and Washington Sports and Entertainment Chairman and CEO Abe Pollin as the inaugural inductees into the new Greater Washington Sports Hall of Champions.

Williams was one of only five coaches in NCAA Division I to have led his team to 11 consecutive NCAA Tournaments, from 1994-2004. The Terrapins' 2005 appearance in the National Invitation Tournament marked the 12th consecutive postseason berth for Williams' teams.

In guiding his 2004 Terrapins to the ACC Tournament title, Williams became the third coach in league history to lead his team to victory over the top three seeds: No. 3 Wake Forest, No. 2 NC State and No. 1 Duke. By overcoming a 21-point first half deficit against the Wolfpack, Williams engineered the greatest comeback in the 52-year history of the ACC Tournament.

He is one of seven college basketball coaches since 1980 to guide his alma mater to the Final Four and was the first since 1974 to lead his alma mater to a national title.

A winner of nearly 70 percent of his NCAA Tournament games while at Maryland, he ranks ninth among active coaches in NCAA Tournament winning percentage overall (26-13, .667), and 10th in wins (26).

With a victory over No. 1 Florida in Gainesville on Dec. 10, 2003, he is the winningest coach in the nation against top-ranked opponents (6).

With his 500th win at NC State on March 2, 2003, the 1968 Maryland grad became the sixth ACC alumnus in conference history to amass as many as 500 coaching victories.

With 334 wins as Maryland's head coach, Williams is only the sixth mentor in Atlantic Coast Conference history to pass the 300-victory milestone.

With 139 career ACC victories as Maryland's coach, Williams needs only four ACC wins to surpass Frank McGuire (North Carolina and South Carolina) as the third-winningest ACC coach in terms of conference victories. Only McGuire, Dean Smith (364, North Carolina) and Mike Krzyzewski (250, Duke) have more ACC conference wins.

National Prominence

For Williams, now in his 17th season, the accomplishments of the past 12 years have been particularly sweet for a coach whose roots with the program extend to his playing days in the late 1960s, and whose earliest seasons as head coach were tormented by NCAA sanctions he inherited. The two-time Final Four architect and ACC championship mentor is himself a Maryland alumnus, who found glory for a program whose history is filled with a myriad of some of the most prominent names in college basketball annals: Shue, Lucas, Elmore, McMillen, Albert King, Bias, Buck Williams and Walt Williams.

Guiding his Maryland team to the 2004 ACC title remains a poignant source of pride for Williams and all of the Terrapin faithful. Coaching the most youth-filled team in college basketball to an incredible weekend of success, in a year where the ACC was rated the nation's most competitive conference, is not an accomplishment soon to be forgotten by Maryland's fans or the coach himself. The weekend featured three hard-fought, instant-classic contests. In the end, the Terrapins emerged victorious, with their first tournament title since 1984 and only the third in the storied history of the Maryland program. In only three days - three days that were the result of a season's worth of determination, diligence and lessons learned - the Terps were transformed from a team teetering on the edge of the NCAA bubble to a No. 4 seed in the national tournament.

The excitement of the 2004 ACC Tournament conjured images of the Terrapins' NCAA title run only two years earlier. Williams followed a remarkable 2001 Final Four season by compiling the most wins in Maryland history, going 32-4 in 2002. He engineered the school's best regular season ever (25-3), its first outright ACC regular season title since 1980, its first No. 1 seed in an NCAA Tournament, and a return to the Final Four. He earned billing as the league's coach of the year for the first time in his career and later was honored with various national awards, the Victor Award and the New York Athletic Club's Winged Foot Award as the coach of the national champions.

Capping his personal ascent to college basketball's highest pinnacle, Williams added author to his resume in summer 2002 by completing an autobiography entitled Sweet Redemption, with award-winning journalist David Vise. The book captures the essence of Williams' arrival at Maryland, the Terps' re-building efforts, their return to the NCAA Tournament in 1994 and their tournament climb ever since.

The rise of the Maryland program has run parallel with Williams' ascent among the most notable in the collegiate coaching fraternity. Williams was one of only five coaches to boast a string of 11 consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament from 1994-2004. He has produced more than 20 wins in nine of his last 11 seasons, and a school-record eight straight from 1996-97 to 2003-04. Williams' 15 career 20-win seasons ties him for 11th among active coaches.

Williams, 334-178 at Maryland, boasts a 541-306 overall record including four years at American (1979-82), four at Boston College (1983-86) and three at Ohio State (1987-89). In 27 seasons as a Division I head coach, Williams has coached in 14 NCAA Tournaments and guided nine different teams to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen. One of 26 coaches ever to take three different schools to the NCAA Tournament, Williams has guided teams to the NIT or NCAA Tournament at each of his four coaching stops.

During his run of 11 straight NCAA Tournaments at Maryland, he has forged his way to becoming the winningest NCAA Tournament coach in Maryland history with 22 wins and 10 losses - nearly 70 percent. He boasts a 26-13 NCAA Tournament record overall, and has carried Maryland to the Sweet Sixteen in five of the past eight years.

Terp Alumnus

Williams is one of three 500-win coaches who now engineer the programs at their respective alma maters, including Eddie Sutton at Oklahoma State and Jim Boeheim at Syracuse. With Roy Williams of North Carolina, those four also are the only active coaches to direct their alma maters to at least one Final Four appearance, with Gary Williams, Boeheim and Sutton making multiple showings with their alma maters.

In 2001, Williams became just the sixth coach since 1980 to direct his alma mater to the Final Four. A year later, he became the first coach since 1974 to guide his alma mater to a national title. Williams is the only active coach to take his alma mater to consecutive Final Four appearances. He is only the eighth mentor ever to guide his alma mater to consecutive Final Fours, and the first since Houston's Guy Lewis in 1982, 1983 and 1984.

A former Terrapin point guard, Williams was a starter under coach Bud Millikan during the 1965, 1966 and 1967 seasons. He was the team captain as a senior and still lists one of his most memorable basketball moments as his experience as a spectator at the 1966 national championship game conducted at Maryland's legendary Cole Field House, between Texas Western and Kentucky.

The former Terrapin student-athlete is also noted as one of just eight former ACC basketball players ever to return to the league as a head coach. On March 2, 2003, Williams became the sixth ACC alumnus to win at least 500 games as Drew Nicholas nailed a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to down NC State, 68-65. With 334 wins as Maryland's head coach, Williams is only the sixth ACC coach to reach the 300 milestone. With 139 career ACC victories as Maryland's coach, he needs only four ACC wins to surpass Frank McGuire (North Carolina and South Carolina) as the third-winningest ACC coach in terms of conference victories.

Williams Era

Inducted into the University of Maryland Sports Hall of Fame in 1999 and the University's Alumni Hall of Fame in 2005, Williams has placed his alma mater's program back among the elite in the always-competitive Atlantic Coast Conference. The Terps have become synonymous with Duke and North Carolina among the league's most dominant programs, and nationally have become a fixture among weekly polls.

Another success story during the Williams Era at Maryland was the coveted home-court win streak over non-conference foes, which spanned more than 12 years and 87 games. Maryland did not lose a non-league home game under Williams for well over a decade since just his fourth home game as head coach: Dec. 12, 1989 vs. Coppin State. The Terps went undefeated against non-conference foes during the final 12 years of competition at Cole Field House, and ran the record to 87 games before a five-point loss to No. 14 Florida on Dec. 14, 2002 at Comcast Center.

The decade of the 1990s was certainly a decade of resurgence for the Maryland basketball team.

Since Williams' arrival as head coach in the summer of 1989, the Terps have soared to a level of national prominence unmatched during the first century of the program - and unmatched by the vast majority of programs nationwide. Included among the many superior accomplishments during the Williams Era are: a school-record 11 straight NCAA Tournament appearances (1994-04) which include consecutive trips to the Final Four, a national crown and seven Sweet Sixteen appearances; the 2004 ACC title; 10 consecutive upper-division finishes in the ACC including runner-up distinction in 1999, 2000 and 2003; an outright regular season ACC title in 2002 and a shared one in 1995; a school-record 28 victories during the 1999 season which was shattered again with 32 in 2002; four NBA lottery picks, one national Player of the Year, a senior of the year and two ACC Players of the Year; an ACC Tournament MVP; and the first recipient of the nation's Senior CLASS Award.

Added for good measure are a NBA Co-Rookie of the Year in Steve Francis (2000), and a preseason top-five ranking three times in four seasons (1999-2002). The result is a program and a coach who have reached icon status.

Williams is the only head coach in school history to guide the Terps to 12 postseason tournament appearances. After guiding his first two Maryland teams to winning records and overcoming an NCAA probationary period resulting from the previous regime, he guided the Terps to an NCAA Tournament appearance in just his fifth season, 1994, and earned a share of the ACC regular-season title in just his sixth, 1995.

Williams' past 12 seasons have brought Maryland from striving for contention in the Atlantic Coast Conference to the realization of the tournament title in 2004; from endeavors to become nationally competitive to the reality of 11 NCAA berths, seven Sweet Sixteen appearances, two Final Fours and of course, the 2002 NCAA championship.

In 2003, Williams took a group of experienced but mostly untested Terps to a third-straight Sweet Sixteen. Along the way, the squad earned its fourth final Top 10 ranking in five seasons, posted a seventh-straight 20-win season, recorded a school-record sixth straight finish in the upper echelon of the ACC by capturing second place, and posted a school-record sixth straight season of double-digit ACC victories. The Terrapins helped Williams to his 500th career coaching victory on March 2, 2003.

The 2002 championship itself was a product of maturity and steadfast dedication to a common goal - and included a magical ride through the final season of play at venerable Cole Field House. Williams molded a cast of seven returning players from its national semifinalists of 2001, while senior captains Lonny Baxter, Juan Dixon and Byron Mouton keyed a consistent effort from the beginning of practice in October, through an undefeated (15-0) home campaign at Cole, all the way to a net-cutting evening at the Georgia Dome on April 1. The Terrapins overcame personal obstacles and handled the ACC's and the NCAA Tournament's stiffest challenges. After winning the ACC regular season crown with a 15-1 record, the Terps' ascent to the national championship game included successive victories over perennial powers Wisconsin, Kentucky, Connecticut and Kansas - and a 64-52 defeat of Indiana in the title game. Maryland won the first national title in school history, and earned its very first No. 1 ranking, after becoming the first team in NCAA history to reach the championship game by defeating the highest possible seed in every round.

A year earlier, the Terrapins began the season with a lofty No. 5 ranking by the Associated Press and finished with the No. 4 spot by USA Today/ESPN. The Terps butted heads weekly during an ACC schedule that included five nationally ranked teams, but found their stride late in the year to win 10 of their last 12 games. Of those 10, seven nationally ranked foes fell in the Terps' path to the Final Four, with their only losses coming to eventual NCAA and ACC champion Duke. Local rival Georgetown was dispatched in the Sweet Sixteen, and an 87-73 win over No. 2-ranked and top-seeded Stanford earned Maryland its first NCAA regional title.

The 2000 season may have been one of Williams' greatest coaching accomplishments ever - guiding a "rebuilding" Terrapin team to 25 wins, a second straight second-place finish in the ACC and its first trip to the conference tournament final since 1984. All with a freshman point guard (Steve Blake), three first-year starters (Baxter, Blake, Dixon) and only one senior following the loss of three players to the NBA draft. Two years later, those three first-year starters would become seasoned veterans and national champions.

Four years after tying for his first ACC regular season championship in 1995, Williams led Maryland to a then school-record 28 victories and a school-record 13 ACC victories during the 1999 season. The Terps finished the season ranked No. 5 by the Associated Press - then the highest final ranking since 1975 and only the third time in school history that the program had earned a top five final national ranking. Maryland peaked at No. 2 as it won its first 10 games of the season, and its No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament matched the highest tournament seed in school history.

Williams has been voted as a national coach of the year finalist five times, including his selection in 2002 as the national coach of the year by Basketball America and CBSSportsline.com, and in 2001 by Playboy. Besides the ACC coaching honor, other accolades after the 2002 championship season included the Winged Foot Award as presented by the N.Y. Athletic Club; the Victor Award as presented by the National Academy of Sports Editors; the Harry Litwack Award as Eastern Coach of the Year, presented annually by the Herb Good Club of Philadelphia; and Seaboard Region Coach of the Year honors as named by Basketball Times and Eastern Basketball. In 1998, ACC Athlete Magazine voted him as the ACC Coach of the Year. He received the same honor from College Hoops Illustrated in 2000. Following Maryland's 1997 season, when the Terps advanced to the NCAA Tournament and finished with a 9-7 record in the ACC, he was named as the Seaboard Region Coach of the Year by Basketball Times and Eastern Basketball. He was honored as the district coach of the year in 1981, and in 1983 he was named as the Eastern Coach of the Year.

Williams has cemented his legacy as one of America's greatest recruiters and college coaches -- a statement backed not just by consecutive Final Four appearances or 23 winning records in 27 seasons, but by 28 NBA draft choices and the numerous former assistant coaches who now guide their own programs. Williams has mentored seven first-round selections and six NBA lottery picks: Walt Williams (#7 pick, 1992), Joe Smith (#1, 1995), Steve Francis (#2, 1999) and Chris Wilcox (#8, 2002); and Ohio State standouts Jim Jackson (#5, 1992) and Dennis Hopson (#3, 1987). Two-time European player of the year Sarunas Jasikevicius played for four years under Williams and starred in Europe before signing with the Indiana Pacers in the summer of 2005.

Williams was hired on June 13, 1989. He inherited a team that had won only nine games the year before and finished in last place in the ACC. Displaying his coaching abilities immediately, he helped the Terps to 19 wins while advancing to the second round of the National Invitation Tournament - and making him the first coach in school history to lead a team into the postseason in his first year. In addition, Maryland's 10-game improvement in the win column during Williams' first season was the largest in school history and second largest in the annals of the ACC by a first-year coach. Only the legendary Press Maravich, who improved NC State's winning ledger by 13 games in his inaugural season (1965), can boast a higher first-year improvement in the win column.

A 1968 graduate of Maryland, Williams lettered as the Terps' starting point guard from 1965-67 under head coach Bud Millikan, serving as team captain during his senior season. It was as a player in the ACC that Williams began developing his basketball philosophy. Playing beside three-year teammates Joe Harrington and Jay McMillen, he studied the game under Millikan, and it was then that he developed his penchant for the full-court pressure defenses for which his teams are now known. He learned his half court man-to-man defense from Millikan, who learned from the legendary Hank Iba. The fast-breaking offense that Williams' teams employ is similar to the style Vic Bubas' Duke teams used when Williams was a player.

Path Back To College Park

Williams began his coaching career alongside Harrington as graduate students at Maryland under freshman coach Tom Davis. The 1969 freshman team finished with a 12-4 record as Williams bonded with Davis in a relationship that would serve him well as his coaching career progressed.

After earning a degree in business, he continued his coaching career as an assistant at Woodrow Wilson High School in Camden, N.J. After one year, he took over as the head coach and guided his first team to a perfect 27-0 record and the state title. Williams has called that season "the ultimate -- there wasn't another game to win." Upon winning the NCAA West Region championship in 2001, he fondly recalled his championship at Camden as the "only other time I've ever got to cut down a net."

Williams spent one more year at Woodrow Wilson before accepting an invitation from Davis in 1972 to become an assistant at Lafayette College. While an assistant at Lafayette, Williams also served as the head soccer coach. In 1978, Williams accompanied Davis to Boston College. After one year there, Williams became the head coach at American University.

Williams immediately began making his mark. His 1981 squad set the still-standing school record for victories with a 24-6 mark, won the East Coast Conference championship, and played in the NIT. Williams was named the district coach of the year. American returned to postseason play the next season as the Williams-led Eagles went 21-9 and played in the NIT for the second consecutive year. Only once prior to Williams' arrival had AU attended a postseason tournament, and the Eagles have not returned since. Williams' four-year record at AU was 72-42.

In 1983, Williams succeeded Davis at Boston College. He was once again an instant success, posting a 25-7 record and leading the Eagles to the regular-season championship of the Big East in his first season. Making his first appearance in the NCAA Tournament, Williams directed the Eagles to the Sweet 16. He finished third in the balloting for national coach of the year, and was honored again as the Eastern Coach of the Year by his peers. He went on to duplicate that NCAA Tournament success again in 1985, leading B.C. back to the Sweet Sixteen.

In 1987, Williams accepted the head coaching job at Ohio State, becoming the 10th basketball coach in that school's illustrious history. He succeeded Eldon Miller and once again enjoyed success. In three years, the Buckeyes made three postseason appearances. His first squad defeated then-No. 1 and unbeaten Iowa (coached by Tom Davis) in the regular season, in what would be the first of many giant-killings. During Williams' three-year term at Ohio State, OSU defeated a second-ranked Purdue team, perennial power Kansas and highly regarded Big Ten powers Michigan and Illinois. Each of Williams' three Ohio State teams advanced to postseason play, and he laid the groundwork for the highly successful teams that followed when he left Columbus for College Park.

Williams In The Community

The Terrapins' head coach is an active member of the University of Maryland and greater Baltimore-Washington, D.C. community. Williams is involved in extensive charity, fund-raising and public speaking events throughout the year, particularly in the offseason.

In September of 2004, University President C.D. Mote Jr. announced that Williams will co-chair the scholarship component of Maryland's upcoming $200 million fund-raising campaign. In addition to a pledge of a half-million dollars of his own for academic scholarships at the university, Williams will represent the University at various functions and perform various networking duties to spearhead the fund-raising effort.

Earlier in the year, Williams served as the commencement speaker at the graduation proceedings for the Robert H. Smith School of Business. Williams, a 1968 University graduate with a degree in business, addressed the Class of 2004 at the Comcast Center ceremony.

Williams has been heavily involved in the NABC's Coaches vs. Cancer efforts. The program is a partnership between the National Association of Basketball Coaches and the American Cancer Society. The coaches participating in this program are dedicated to fighting cancer through increased support for research, patient services, and prevention education.

Williams has also worked with Maryland grad Boomer Esiason and others to benefit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, hosting charity basketball games and golf events.

For the past two years, Williams has served as the honorary chairman for the Walk Far for N.A.A.R., which has raised more than one million dollars for the National Alliance of Autism Research. He has also chaired the Salvation Army's FORE Kids golf tournament in 2003 and 2004, which raises proceeds for Washington, D.C.'s youth.