Greg Williams (born January 27, 1947) is an American retired

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

coach. He played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

for

Rice Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima ''Oryza glaberrima'', commonly known as African rice, is one of the two domesticated rice species. It was first domesticated and grown i ...

before starting a 45-year coaching career. He coached both incarnations of the

Dallas Diamonds The Dallas Diamonds was a women's professional American football team in the Women's Football Alliance (WFA). The Diamonds were made up of 46 players and a coaching staff of 10. The Diamonds won four national championships; the first three were ...

. In the 1980–81 season, the team went 27–9 and he was named

Women's Professional Basketball League The Women's Professional Basketball League (abbreviated WBL) was a professional women's basketball league in the United States. The league played three seasons from the fall of 1978 to the spring of 1981. The league was the first professional w ...

Coach of the Year. After coaching at Southern Methodist University, he was named head coach of the WABA Dallas Diamonds. With his leadership, the team posted a 19–2 record. The team was the league champion and Williams was named WABA Coach of the Year. He is a 1970 graduate of Rice University and spent the final 10 seasons of his coaching career (2005–2015) as the Rice women's basketball head coach. He lettered in basketball for three years while playing for the

Owls Owls are birds from the Order (biology), order Strigiformes (), which includes over 200 species of mostly Solitary animal, solitary and Nocturnal animal, nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vi ...

and was named all-Southwest Conference as well as league Co-MVP in 1969. He earned his degree in physical education and was immediately hired as assistant coach of the men's team. Under the leadership of Don Knodel, Williams helped the Owls win the 1970 SWC championship. Williams retired at the end of the 2014–15 season with a 141–170 record at Rice and an overall head coaching record of 342–309. He had also served as women's head coach at

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

and

Colorado State Colorado State University (Colorado State or CSU) is a public land-grant research university in Fort Collins, Colorado. It is the flagship university of the Colorado State University System. Colorado State University is classified among "R1: ...

References

External links

Rice bio
1947 births Living people American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Indiana Basketball players from Indiana Colorado State Rams women's basketball coaches Dayton Flyers women's basketball coaches Detroit Shock head coaches Guards (basketball) Houston Cougars women's basketball coaches People from Portland, Indiana Rice Owls men's basketball coaches Rice Owls men's basketball players Rice Owls women's basketball coaches SMU Mustangs women's basketball coaches Utah Starzz coaches Women's National Basketball Association general managers Women's Professional Basketball League coaches {{Texas-bio-stub