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August 19, 2005 > Sports > Rice alumnus Greg Williams named women’s basketball coach

Rice alumnus Greg Williams named women’s basketball coach

By Amber Obermeyer | Thresher Editorial Staff

Greg Williams (Hanszen ‘70) has begun his tenure as Rice’s fourth varsity women’s basketball coach, as Athletic Director Bobby May (Will Rice ‘65) named him Cristy McKinney’s successor May 25. McKinney resigned in April to become the head coach at Clemson after 12 seasons at Rice, which included the Owls’ only two NCAA tournament appearances.

Senior Associate Athletic Director Steve Moniaci chaired the search committee for a new coach, and he said Williams’ ties to Rice made him a more attractive candidate.

“Any time you can hire a graduate of the university, that person will have a lot better understanding of what goes on, especially at a place like Rice,” Moniaci said. “Greg had experience as a head coach at every level of women’s basketball all the way up through the pro ranks. Nobody else had that kind of experience — not only was he the most qualified, but he also had the most ties to Rice.”

For the past two seasons, Williams was an assistant women’s basketball coach at Dayton. Previously, he had served as a head coach of the WNBA’s Detroit Shock, at Colorado State and at UH.

Rice made no post-season appearances in its first 19 seasons of varsity women’s basketball before McKinney’s teams made six in the last eight seasons. Williams said he hopes to maintain this success, as he inherits a team with 12 returning letter-winners and four returning starters.

“Coach McKinney and her staff did a phenomenal job and took women’s basketball [at Rice] to places it had never been before,” Williams said. “I’m just hoping build on that and maintain it.”

Williams said he has intentionally not watched any footage of games from last season, because he wants to enter the season with no preconceived notions about the players. He thinks his preferred style of play will mesh well with the players already at Rice.

“I want to be very agressive on both ends of the floor,” Williams said. “I like the fast break, and I like an up-tempo style. I know Rice has been very good defensively in the past, and that’s how you win — with great defense. We might play a little bit faster tempo on a consistent basis, but I know they did play up-tempo sometimes just by looking at their scores. They’re obviously solid fundamentally, so all we’ve got to do is come in and not mess it up.”

Moniaci said Rice was able to attract qualified candidates because of McKinney’s success.

“We owe Cristy McKinney a debt of gratitude because she elevated the program,” Moniaci said. “The people applying for the job this time were of a different caliber than those who applied in past. We did a national search, and we had national recognition that this is a good basketball job and not just a good school.”

Moniaci said the committee received about 40-50 applications and interviewed five of the candidates in mid-May. The committee then recommended Williams to May, who confirmed the choice, Moniaci said. No players have transferred, but former assistant coaches Todd Steelman and Shanice Stanford have joined McKinney’s staff at Clemson.

Carlos Quintero (Baker ‘98) remains an assistant coach, and Williams has hired two of his former players from Colorado State — Misty Murphy and Kim Austin — to join Quintero on the bench. Williams named Rebecca Kates the director of women’s basketball operations.

End of article

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