Richard Williams - Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame

Richard Williams

Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame Inductee

Basketball

Richard Williams Mississippi Hall of Fame Inductee

Richard Williams Stats, Bio

Born: August 22, 1945

Hometown: Pearl, MS

Year Induction: 2014

Bio

High School

  • Was a left-handed baseball pitcher and self-described “mediocre basketball player” at Pearl High Scool.

 

College

  • Graduated from Mississippi State, where he didn’t play sports but did attend regularly, the practices of Hall of Fame basketball coach Babe McCarthy.

 

Coaching

  • Began his basketball coaching career as the volunteer coach of a seventh grade team in Natchez.
  • Steadily moved up through the ranks as a highly successful high school and junior college coach.
  • Was hired by Bob Boyd at Mississippi State as a part-time coach.
  • In 1986, Williams took over a Mississippi State basketball program that had finished 8-22 overall and 3-15 in the Southeastern Conference the previous season. Four years later, State was 20-9, 13-5 and won the SEC West.

* In 1996, Willliams’ State team defeated eventual national champ Kentucky to win the SEC Tournament , then won four straight NCAA tournament games to reach the Final Four.

 

Did You Know?

Williams’s State teams won 191 games, lost 163 and made it to the NCAA Sweet 16 twice. He was named SEC Coach of the Year twice.

Additional Picture(s)

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