The Miami basketball program has hired Pooh Williamson as the newest member of their coaching staff. Williamson most recently spent time on Tubby Smith’s staff at Memphis.
Williamson joins Jim Larranaga’s staff with the Miami basketball program to replace Jamal Brunt who left the Hurricanes after three seasons to join the staff at VCU. The former Tulsa point guard under Smith joins the Miami basketball staff with over 20 years as an assistant in college basketball.
Williamson was the interim Head Coach at Tulsa during the 2004-05 season. He led the Golden Hurricane to a 7-15 record. Williamson has been an assistant at Washington State, Illinois State, Tulane, Wichita State, Texas A&M, SMU and TCU in addition to Memphis and Tulsa.
Williamson spent two stints with Smith. He was the point guard on Smith’s last two teams at Tulsa. The Golden Hurricane won the Missouri Valley Conference regular season and tournament championships in 1994 and 1995. Tulsa advanced to back to back Regional Semifinals in those seasons.
Williamson was on Smith’s staffs at Texas Tech and Memphis. He served on Smith’s staff for three years with the Red Raiders. Williamson then joined Smith for the final two years of Smith’s tenure with the Tigers.
.@CanesCoachL has announced the hiring of Alvin "Pooh" Williamson as an assistant coach to his staff.
— Canes Men’s Basketball (@CanesHoops) June 13, 2018
📰: https://t.co/c8g7J56Yks pic.twitter.com/DUkWDGJWFc
Tulsa’s 1994 team made it to the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 as a 12 seed. In 1995 the Golden Hurricane advanced to the regional semis as a six seed.
Tulsa upset UCLA and Oklahoma State in the first two rounds of the 1994 NCAA Tournament. The Golden Hurricane lost to their former Head Coach Nolan Richardson and Arkansas in the Midwest Regional Semifinal.
All three of Tulsa’s opponents in 1994 plus North Carolina would advance to the Final Four a year later. Arkansas went on to win the National Championship in 1994.
Richardson has coached many future professionals over the course of his coaching career. Among those are Los Angeles Clippers All-Star DeAndre Jordan and the Milwaukee Bucks prolific scorer Khris Middleton.
The Miami Athletic Department issued a full press release on Williamson’s hiring. Below is an excerpt.
"“Pooh has a tremendous amount of experience as a coach and recruiter and has been especially effective as a mentor to the players with whom he has worked,” Larrañaga said. “I’ve known Pooh since he was an assistant at Wichita State when we played them in the 2006 NCAA Tournament while we were at George Mason. He comes highly recommended by one of my dear friends in coaching, Tubby Smith. We welcome Pooh and his family to Coral Gables.”As an assistant coach, Williamson has helped guide eight teams to NCAA Tournament appearances.“I am excited to be here and have the chance to work with Coach L and his staff and young men,” Williamson said.“This is a great opportunity to work with good people and compete in a tremendous conference. Miami has had a lot of success under Coach L, and I look forward to helping maintain that and building on it even further.”"
Prior to his time at Memphis, he coached for eight years in the state of Texas with stops at Texas A&M, SMU, TCU and Texas Tech. He also has coached at Washington State, Illinois State, Tulane, Tulsa and Wichita State.
Williamson coached at Texas Tech for three seasons from 2013-16 and helped lead the Red Raiders to the NCAA Tournament in 2016. Prior to that, he spent one season at SMU and one year at TCU in the Horned Frogs’ first season in the Big 12 Conference.
The Beggs, Okla., native coached for four seasons at Texas A&M from 2007-11, with the Aggies earning four straight berths in the NCAA Tournament.
Working under head coach Mark Turgeon, he helped the Texas A&M program compile a 97-40 overall record and at least 24 wins each season.
While at Texas A&M, Williamson coached future NBA players… Jordan…Middleton and Donald Sloan.
He followed Turgeon to College Station from Wichita State, where he helped the Shockers win the 2006 Missouri Valley Conference championship and advance to the NCAA Sweet 16, where WSU was eliminated by George Mason, which was coached at the time by Larrañaga.
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Prior to his time with the Shockers, Williamson was an assistant coach at Tulsa for four years…
Tulsa won the 2002 Western Athletic Conference regular-season title and 2003 WAC Tournament and twice advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Williamson earned his start in collegiate coaching with two seasons at Washington State from 1996-98.
A four-year letter winner at Tulsa, Williamson played in 118 career games and was a key factor in the Golden Hurricanes’ back-to-back NCAA Sweet 16 runs in 1994 and 1995.
A point guard, he averaged 14.0 points per game in six career NCAA Tournament games, which ranks third in program history.
Williamson started 63 games over his final two seasons in claiming All-MVC First-Team and All-MVC Defensive-Team accolades. He averaged 12.8 points per game as a senior and completed his career ranked No. 7 on the school’s career assists chart and No. 10 on the career steals list.
Williamson…He and his wife, Rosemary, have two sons, Jamal and Joshua.
There was no information regarding what Williamson’s duties will be as a Miami basketball assistant. The man Williamson replaces, Brunt, handled the offense and was an excellent recruiter.
Next: Miami basketball hopes recruiting gets back on track in 2019
Brunt was instrumental in the Miami basketball team signing the two best recruiting classes in program history in 2017 and ’18. Both classes were in the top ten nationally.