Robert Allen Williams (born July 13, 1953) is an American

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

coach and the former head men's basketball coach at the

UC Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an independent teachers college, UCSB joined ...

. He is sometimes referred to as the Dean of the

Big West Conference The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's NCAA Division I, Division I. The conference was origina ...

's basketball coaches. He was previously the head coach at the

UC Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Davis, California, United States. It is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University ...

, winning the

NCAA Men's Division II Basketball Championship The NCAA Division II men's basketball tournament (officially styled by the NCAA as a "Championship" instead of a "Tournament") is an annual championship tournament for colleges and universities that are members of NCAA Division II, a grouping of ...

in 1998. Williams is the all-time winningest coach at UC Santa Barbara with a 19-year record of 313–260.

Coaching career

Prior to his arrival at UCSB, Williams spent eight years at UC Davis. His UC Davis teams recorded 20 or more wins five times and had an eight-year record of 158–76 record. In Williams’ final season at UC Davis, the Aggies went 31–2, won the NCAA Division II National Championship. Williams was named NABC Division II Coach of the Year. Williams took over a UCSB program that had not recorded a winning season in five years. In 1998–99, the Gauchos won 15 games and won the West division of the Big West. The 2002 Gauchos won the school’s first Big West tournament title, advancing to the NCAA tournament. In 2003, they won the league’s regular season title and played in the NIT. In 2007–08, UCSB set the all time school record for most wins in a season with 23. They won the Big West regular season title for a second time and received a bid to the 2008 NIT. The 2009–10 season marked the fourth Big West Regular Season title captured during Williams' tenure at UCSB. It also was the first time in the basketball program's history that the Gauchos won both the Big West Regular Season and Big West tournament championships in the same year. Williams was also awarded the 2010 Big West Coach of the Year Award, his third. It marked the school's second trip to the NCAA tournament under Williams. On Feb. 5, 2011, he recorded his 400th career win when his team defeated UC Davis. The 2011 team also garnered their second consecutive NCAA tournament bid. Williams became UCSB’s all-time leader in coaching victories when, on January 2, 2012, his team defeated Cal Poly. The 2015–16 Gauchos were invited to play at the inaugural

Vegas 16 The Vegas 16 tournament was a postseason men's college basketball tournament. The tournament was managed by Lexington, Kentucky-based sports marketing firm bd Global. CBS Sports Network was announced as the television partner for the quarterfinal ...

at the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino in

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

. The postseason bid was the eighth for the program under Williams and a victory over

Northern Illinois Northern Illinois is a region generally covering the northern third of the U.S. state of Illinois. The region is by far the most populous of Illinois, with nearly 9.7 million residents as of 2010. Economics Northern Illinois is dominated by ...

in the first round was its first postseason win since 1990. Following a disappointing 2016–17 season, Williams was informed that he would not return as head coach after 19 years with the school.

Head coaching record

College

References

External links

UC Santa Barbara profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Bob 1953 births Living people American men's basketball coaches Basketball coaches from California College men's basketball head coaches in the United States High school basketball coaches in the United States Junior college men's basketball coaches in the United States Menlo Oaks men's basketball coaches Sportspeople from Woodland, California Pepperdine Waves men's basketball coaches Sportspeople from Greater Sacramento UC Davis Aggies men's basketball coaches UC Santa Barbara Gauchos men's basketball coaches