THE WILLIAMS FILE

PERSONAL

Hometown: Van Alstyne, Texas
Education: Oklahoma City University ’94 (bachelor’s degree in kinesiology)
Wife: the former Corey Norman
Children: Zera, Calvin, Mason and Addyson

COACHING CAREER

1994-98: Texas-Arlington (assistant)
1998-99: Texas A&M-Kingsville (assistant)
1999-00: Northwestern State (assistant)
2000-04: Colorado State (assistant)
2004-06: Texas A&M (assistant/recruiting coordinator)
2006-07: New Orleans (head coach)
Record: 14-17
2007-08: Marquette (assistant)
2008-14: Marquette (head coach)
Record: 139-69
2014-19: Virginia Tech (head coach)
Record: 100-69
2019-: Texas A&M (head coach)
Record: 97-62
Overall Head Coaching Record (17 years): 348-217

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Two-time SEC Coach of the Year Buzz Williams enters his sixth season as the head coach at Texas A&M and his 18^th year as a collegiate head coach in 2024-25.

Prior to being named head coach of the Aggies on April 3, 2019, Williams served as head coach at Virginia Tech (5 years, 2014-19), Marquette (6 years, 2008-14) and New Orleans (1 year, 2006-07). His overall record after 17 seasons as a head coach is 348-217 (.616), including a 95-62 (.605) mark at Texas A&M which includes SEC Coach of the Year honors in 2019-20 and 2022-23.

After the 2022-23 season, the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents approved a contract extension for Williams through the 2028 season.

Among the program firsts and accomplishments during the Williams era of Aggie Basketball are:

Williams’ teams have tallied the two highest-ranked wins in school history over Associated Press Top 25 teams with victories over No. 2 Alabama in the 2022-23 regular season finale and No. 4 Auburn in the 2022 SEC Tournament quarterfinals.
His teams have posted five wins over AP top 10 opponents and 11 over AP Top 25 foes, which are both the most in school history. The four-game winning streak over AP Top 25 teams in the 2022-23 season was also a school record.
He guided Aggies to three consecutive 20-win seasons from 2022-24, which had not been done at Texas A&M in more than a decade.
Team earned NCAA Tournament berths in 2022-23 and 2023-24, marking the first time the program earned back-to-back “Big Dance” appearances since 2011.
The Aggies advanced to the SEC Tournament championship game in back-to-back seasons in 2022 and 2023 for the first time in any league in nearly 40 years and to three-straight SEC Tournament semifinals from 2022-24.
Texas A&M won 15 SEC regular season games in 2023, which was the most by the Aggies in the SEC era and most in any league in 100 years.
Won a school record 12 straight league contests on its home court over two seasons, including an undefeated conference record at home in 2022-23.
Earned the program’s first NCAA Tournament bid in five seasons in 2022-23
Advanced to the NIT championship game in 2022 for the first time in program history.

With the Aggies’ first-round victory over Nebraska in the 2024 NCAA Tournament, Williams became one of 10 active Div. I head coaches to win at least one NCAA tourney game at three different programs. He’s coached in 21 NCAA Tournament games and produced 11 victories, which rank in the top 25 in both categories among active Div. I head coaches.

For his age (51) and his number of years as a head coach (17), Williams is the active leader in total victories and ranks No. 2 in NCAA Tournament games and NCAA Tournament victories.

Williams has won 20-or-more games in 12 of his 17 seasons as a head coach and averages over 20 wins per season for his career. Williams’ teams have suffered just two losing conference records – his first season at Virginia Tech in 2014-15 and his second squad at Texas A&M in the Covid-19-marred 2020-21 season. With a 25-23 record on the road under Williams, Texas A&M has the second-highest road winning percentage among SEC teams since 2019-20 and are one of only four programs with winning road records in that span.

His 52 combined wins in 2021-22 and 2022-23 were a program record for consecutive season victories, and the 73 wins over the past three seasons were the third-best three-year total in school history. The 73 wins were the fourth-most victories by an SEC program over the past three seasons. Since ending an eight-game losing streak in mid-February in 2022, the Aggies have won 36 SEC regular season or SEC tournament games, more than any other league school in that time span.

His teams have advanced to the postseason 12 times in 16 total chances during his career with 10 NCAA Tournament appearances and two NIT invitations, including four career NCAA Sweet 16 appearances (3 at Marquette, 1 at Virginia Tech), one Elite Eight appearance (2013 Marquette) and one appearance in the NIT Championship game.

Entering his 31st season as a college basketball coach, including 30 seasons at the Division I level, Williams’ coaching history includes stints as an assistant, associate head coach and head coach. In addition to his head coaching stints at Texas A&M, Virginia Tech, Marquette and New Orleans, Williams served on staffs at Marquette (2007-08), Texas A&M (2004-06), Colorado State (2000-04), Northwestern State (1999-2000), Texas A&M-Kingsville (1998-99) and UTA (1994-98).

In his previous stint at Texas A&M as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator on Billy Gillispie’s staff, Williams helped bring two nationally-ranked recruiting classes to Aggieland and was part of the basketball renaissance for the program. The 2004-05 team posted the top turnaround in the nation with a 14-game improvement from the previous year and posted the Aggies’ first postseason victory in more than 20 years. In 2005-06, the Aggies posted 22 wins and earned their first trip to the NCAA tournament since 1980.

Williams has recruited and coached more than 20 players who have earned all-conference accolades, including two league Players of the Year, two conference Freshmen of the Year and four Associated Press All-Americans. Last season, Wade Taylor IV became the first Aggie to earn first-team All-SEC honors in consecutive seasons and Andersson Garcia received a spot on the league’s All-Defensive Team.

He’s coached, recruited or developed 16 NBA players over the course of his career, totaling over $400 million in total salaries and nearly 3,000 games played.

Brent Langdon Williams was born in Greenville, Texas and grew up in the small Texas town of Van Alstyne (population 4,369), which is located 50 miles north of Dallas, Texas. He is one of the few NCAA Div. I head coaches that did not play college basketball. Instead, he was a student assistant at Navarro JC from 1990-92 and Oklahoma City University from 1992-94.

He received the nickname “Buzz” while working as an energetic student assistant for longtime Navarro College coach and mentor Lewis Orr. Williams was inducted into the Navarro College Bulldog Hall of Fame in 2021 as the school honored Williams’ climb from “floor maintenance manager” to head coach.

Perhaps the most impactful initiative by Williams was the founding of “Buzz’s Bunch,” which connects young people with special needs to the game of basketball with an annual Buzz’s Bunch game in the fall and a summer clinic. Originally founded during William’s time in Milwaukee, Wisconsin at Marquette, Buzz’s Bunch continued during his time in Blacksburg, Virginia at Virginia Tech and now at Texas A&M. Every player, coach and staff member has been lucky to develop a relationship, learn and grown from these children as Buzz’s Bunch has grown to more than 500 members spanning all three cities.

As part of “Buzz’s Bunch,” the Williams family endowed scholarships at Virginia Tech and Texas A&M, which are awarded annually to students with a disability. Additionally, Williams’ wife, Corey, helped endow a scholarship -- The Buzz and Corey Williams Family Student-Athlete Scholarship -- which is awarded to a female student-athlete at Virginia Tech.

Always seeking to connect to young people, Williams has guest-lectured for the School of Military Science (SOMS) class at Texas A&M the past two fall semesters and he co-taught Sports Management (SPMT) class in the fall of 2024. His lectures for SOMS 380, originating from the Rudder Forum inside the historic Rudder Theatre Complex, featured topics such as “Learning How You Learn,” “Leading Through Change,” “The Birthday Paradox,” The Principal-Agent Problem” and “Never Assume Anything.” Williams also taught similar classes at Virginia Tech.

Williams is married to the former Corey Norman and the couple have two daughters, Zera and Addyson, and two sons, Calvin and Mason. He earned a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology from Oklahoma City University in 1994 before completing his master’s work in the same field at Texas A&M-Kingsville in 1999.

Year-by-Year Head Coaching Record

Year	Record	Postseason
NEW ORLEANS (1 year, 14-17)
2006-07	14-17	--
MARQUETTE (6 years, 139-69)
2008-09	25-10	NCAA 2nd Round
2009-10	22-12	NCAA 1st Round
2010-11	22-15	NCAA Sweet 16
2011-12	27-8	Big East Champs NCAA Sweet 16
2012-13	26-9	Big East Co-Champs NCAA Elite 8
2013-14	17-15	--
VIRGINIA TECH (5 years, 100-69)
2014-15	11-22	--
2015-16	20-15	NIT 2nd Round
2016-17	22-11	NCAA 1st Round
2017-18	21-12	NCAA 1st Round
2018-19	26-9	NCAA Sweet 16
TEXAS A&M (4 years, 74-47)
2019-20	16-14	no postseason (COVID-19)
2020-21	8-10	--
2021-22	27-13*	NIT Finals
2022-23	25-10	NCAA 1st Round
2023-24	21-15	NCAA 2nd Round
career (16 seasons)	348-217