Bob Williams has been the head coach of the Golden Bear program since 2002 and has been coaching basketball for over 25 years at various levels. Williams led Tech to the NAIA National Tournament in 2015 and 2017. The Golden Bears were 23-9 a season ago and advanced to the NAIA Division II Nationals in Branson, MO. Tech was ranked as high as No. 11 in the country (2016-17). They were crowned the River States Conference (RSC) East Division Champions with a 14-3 regular season record. Williams was named the RSC Coach of the Year following the 2016-17 campaign. Tech has averaged 20 wins the past five seasons, including a 21-8 mark in 2011-12, and a Mid-South Conference regular season championship. Williams’ career coaching record at the college level is 353-299, which spans 21 seasons as a head coach at 3 schools. Coach Williams earned the 300th victory of his collegiate coaching career on December 6, 2014 with a 71-65 win over #23 ranked University of Cumberlands. In January of 2015, Tech has been ranked No. 1 nationally in the USCAA poll in each of the past two seasons.
The 2009 MSC “Coach of The Year”, Williams led Tech to a 20-win season in 2008-09. Over the past five seasons, Tech has been ranked nationally in NAIA Division I (#12 in January of 2009), and has notched impressive wins over several nationally ranked teams, including #1 Mountain State University in 2009. Williams has produced 11 All-Americans at Tech, including current Tech guard Ryan Atkins who was named third team All-American by the NAIA in 2016.
The veteran Williams coached the Golden Bears in their last four seasons (2002-2006) in the NCAA and West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WVIAC), before moving to the NAIA and the Mid-South Conference (MSC) for the 2006-07 season. Tech competed as an NAIA independent from 2012-15 and will become a member of the Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (KIAC) on July 1, 2015. Tech is a dual member of the NAIA and the USCAA (United States Collegiate Athletic Association).
Williams was the head coach at Glenville State (WV) from 1997-2002 where he helped lead a basketball resurgence at the NCAA Division II school, taking a 13th place team to consecutive top 5 finishes, including winning 25 of 36 regular season games from 2000-2002. Only the University of Charleston and Salem International University had better conference records during that stretch. Williams’ Glenville teams knocked off several nationally ranked opponents, including an upset of #4 University of Charleston in 2002.
From 1995-1997, Williams served as head coach at his alma mater Jefferson Community College (NY) and led the NJCAA Division III school to back to back Final Fours. The 1996-97 team won the program’s first ever Region III Championship and advanced to the NJCAA National Championship game. Williams’ two year record at the school was 53-14 with two Mid-State Athletic Conference tournament championships and one regular season title. He was twice named NJCAA District 7 “Coach of the Year” and was named the 1996-97 Mid-State Athletic Conference “Coach of the Year” and the New York State junior college “Coach of the Year." Williams was inducted into the Jefferson CC Hall of Fame in August of 2015.
Williams served as the Associate head coach at Jefferson CC during the 1994-95 season and was an Assistant Coach at NCAA Division III Potsdam State (NY) from 1990-94. The 1990-91 Potsdam team went 24-7 and upset #1 ranked Hamilton College for the ECAC Championship. Coach Williams also was the head coach at Indian River High School (NY) from 1988-1990 and was a student-assistant coach at Ithaca College (NY) from 1986-88.
Williams played two years at Jefferson CC and one at Ithaca College. As the starting point guard at Jefferson CC during the 1984-85 season, Williams averaged 11.1 assists per game and still holds several assist records at the school. He once notched 21 assists in one game. He hails from a basketball family. His Father, Bob Williams, Sr., was a First Team All-American at Broome CC (NY) and later played at Lamar University (TX). He then went on to a 31-year coaching career, including 27 seasons at Jefferson CC. Williams played for his Father at Jefferson CC and later followed him as head coach in 1995.
Many of Williams’ players have gone on to play professionally overseas, including Switzerland, Portugal, Argentina, Canada, Tunisia, Iceland, France, Germany, Columbia, Scotland, Kosovo, Czech Republic, Hungary, Saudi Arabia and England. In the summer of 1999, Williams coached a WVIAC All-Star team that toured Venezuela. Williams has spoken at numerous basketball clinics, including the NY State Coaches Clinic, the WV State Coaches Clinic, and the John Beilein WVU Coaches Clinic and the Bob Huggins WVU Coaches Clinic. The past three years, his Tech squad served as the court team for the Nike Coaches Clinic in Pittsburgh, PA, with over 300 coaches in attendance, working with top coaches like Bobby Knight and Jay Wright.
Coach Williams believes in academics and community. He wants his players to be students first and the team provides community service projects in the area each year. Coach Williams directs the “Little Stars Basketball Camp” at Tech for boys and girls each summer and directs a “Skills For Kids Basketball Clinic” each fall.
Bob Williams graduated from Ithaca College in 1988 with a degree in Physical Education and Health. He earned a Masters degree in Sport Management from the United States Sports Academy, Daphne, AL, in 1993. Coach Williams teaches classes in WVU’s Sport Management program at Tech.
