Richard Williams (basketball coach)

Richard Williams

Current position
Title	Special Assistant to the Head Coach
Team	Southern Miss
Conference	C-USA
Biographical details
Born	c.1944-1945 Vicksburg, Mississippi
Alma mater	Mississippi State
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1984–1986	Mississippi State (assistant)
1986–1998	Mississippi State
2001	Memphis Houn'Dawgs
2003	Pearl HS
2004	Jackson Rage
2008–2009	UAB (DBO)
2009	Louisiana Tech (DBO)
2010–2014	Arkansas State (assistant)
2020	Southern Miss (assistant)
Head coaching record
Overall	191–163 (college)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
NCAA Division I Regional – Final Four (1996) SEC tournament (1996)
Awards
2× SEC Coach of the Year (1991, 1995)

Richard Williams (born 1945) is a former American basketball coach. Currently,^{[ when? ]} he serves as special assistant to the head coach at Southern Miss. ^{[1] [2] [3]}

Early life

Williams was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi and attended Mississippi State University as a freshman in 1963. ^{[4] [5]} Williams began his coaching career as a volunteer coach for seventh grade basketball while working as a math teacher. He worked in a variety of positions in coaching in schools such as Montelbello Junior High and South Natchez. He served as a part-time coach on the staff of Bob Boyd beginning in 1984. ^[6]

Coaching career

Williams was hired in March 1986. ^[7] He served as the head men's basketball coach at Mississippi State University through the 1997–98 season, ^[8] compiling a record of 191–163. His 191 victories are the second most of any head coach in Mississippi State Bulldogs men's basketball program, history, bested only by his former assistant, Rick Stansbury. Williams's 1991 squad won the Southeastern Conference regular season championship and made the 1991 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament for the first time since 1963 and just second time in school history, where they lost in the first round to Eastern Michigan.

During his tenure, the Bulldogs beat Kentucky for the first time in school history, doing so in the 1994-95 season. ^[9] His 1995 squad made the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Tournament, but his 1996 squad would go further. The Bulldogs won the 1996 SEC men's basketball tournament with an 84-73 victory over Kentucky (who had not lost an SEC game all season) to win their first SEC title and first overall conference tournament since 1923. Playing as a 5 seed in the Southeast Region of the Division I tournament, they beat 12-seed VCU 58–51 and 13-seed Princeton 63–41 to face the #1 seed Connecticut in the Sweet Sixteen. They won 60–55 to set their first Elite Eight matchup against #2 seed Cincinnati. They beat the Bearcats 73-63 to win the Regional championship. In the Final Four, they were matched against Syracuse, who beat them 77–69. ^[10] The team was the first (and currently only) team from the state of Mississippi to reach the Final Four of the NCAA Division I Tournament. He received two SEC Coach of the Year awards.

On March 12, 1998, Williams resigned as the head coach at Mississippi State two years removed from his Final Four appearance, citing burnout. ^{[11] [12]}

After leaving Mississippi State, Williams coached the Memphis Houn'Dawgs of the American Basketball Association (ABA), the Jackson Rage of the World Basketball Association (WBA), and at his alma mater, Pearl High School in Pearl, Mississippi. He served as the director of basketball administration at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) in 2008 and in 2009 he was named the director of basketball administration and program coordinator for the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs basketball team on a volunteer basis. Williams was an assistant coach for Arkansas State under John Brady from 2010 to 2014. Williams served as the color commentator for the Mississippi State basketball team's radio broadcasts from the 2014–15 season through the 2019–2020 season.^{[ citation needed ]}

Head coaching record

College

Statistics overview

Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
Mississippi State Bulldogs (Southeastern Conference)(1986–1998)
1986–87	Mississippi State	7–21	3–15	10th
1987–88	Mississippi State	14–15	6–12	10th
1988–89	Mississippi State	13–15	7–11	8th
1989–90	Mississippi State	16–14	7–11	T–8th	NIT second round
1990–91	Mississippi State	20–9	13–5	T–2nd	NCAA Division I Round of 64
1991–92	Mississippi State	15–13	7–9	4th (West)
1992–93	Mississippi State	13–16	5–11	5th (West)
1993–94	Mississippi State	18–11	9–7	3rd (West)	NIT first round
1994–95	Mississippi State	22–8	12–4	T–1st (West)	NCAA Division I Sweet 16
1995–96	Mississippi State	26–8	10–6	T–1st (West)	NCAA Division I Final Four
1996–97	Mississippi State	12–18	6–10	T–3rd (West)
1997–98	Mississippi State	15–15	4–12	5th (West)
Mississippi State:		191–163	89–113
Total:		191–163
National champion        Postseason invitational champion         Conference regular season champion        Conference regular season and conference tournament champion       Division regular season champion      Division regular season and conference tournament champion       Conference tournament champion

See also

• List of NCAA Division I Men's Final Four appearances by coach

References

1. "Richard Williams - Men's Basketball Coach". Southern Miss.
2. "O'Neil: From Final Four to Sun Belt, Williams coaches on". ESPN.com. September 26, 2011.
3. "Putting a cap on Mississippi State can be a difficult thing". March 25, 1996.
4. "MISSISSIPPI ST. FINALLY BURIES RACIST PAST". March 27, 1996.
5. Cotton, Anthony (6 December 1996). "MISSISSIPPI STATE IN A DOG DAZE". Washington Post. Retrieved 4 March 2024.
6. Fame, Mississippi Sports Hall of (July 23, 2014). "Class of 2014: The Richard Williams story".
7. "MSU Assistant Gets Top Job". Daytona Beach Sunday News-Journal. Associated Press. March 20, 1986. Retrieved July 31, 2023.
8. "Williams retires as Mississippi State coach". Tuscaloosa News. Associated Press. March 13, 1998. Retrieved July 31, 2023.
9. "25 Years Later: Reliving Mississippi State's Historic Final Four Run - by Torsheta Jackson". 2 April 2021.
10. "Orangemen's late surge buries Bulldogs, 77-69". The Robesonian. Associated Press. March 31, 1996. Retrieved July 31, 2023.
11. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/sports/2003/04/05/for-richard-williams-success-took-a-heavy-toll/d4321475-7ad1-41c7-a7bf-2a849811bfc3/
12. https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1998/03/13/two-years-after-final-four-mississippi-st-coach-retires/%3foutputType=amp