Buzz Williams Named Maryland Men’s Basketball Head Coach

Buzz Williams has been named head coach of the University of Maryland men's basketball team, Colleen Sorem, Interim Barry P. Gossett Director of Athletics, announced on Tuesday.

Williams, who just finished his sixth season at Texas A&M University, has led his programs to 11 NCAA Tournament appearances and 13 20-win seasons in 18 years as a head coach.

"It is an honor and privilege to be named the head coach of the University of Maryland men's basketball team," said Williams. "I want to thank President Pines and Colleen Sorem for this opportunity to lead one of the most prestigious programs in the country. In leading this program, I promise to uphold the history of Maryland basketball and make Terp Nation proud with the men who represent this institution."

He will be introduced at a press conference at noon Wednesday on the main court of the Xfinity Center.

"We are thrilled to bring a coach of the caliber of Buzz Williams to the University of Maryland," said Sorem. "His incredible record of success at three prominent basketball programs speaks for itself, but we were equally impressed with his tireless work ethic and his dedication to building a program the right way. He embraces the high expectations here at Maryland, and we are all excited to get started on this new era in Maryland basketball."

"Maryland Athletics is an important part of the University of Maryland community," said President Darryll J. Pines. "Finding the right person to lead Maryland men's basketball was critical to the continued success of our program, both on and off the court. With an exemplary record of competitive success and a demonstrated commitment to providing leadership and development to our student-athletes, Coach Buzz Williams is the ideal coach to lead us forward. We could not be more thrilled to welcome him to College Park."

Williams had served as head coach at Texas A&M since 2019, leading the Aggies to the NCAA Tournament in each of the last three seasons. He was named SEC Coach of the Year in 2019-20 and 2022-23. Williams served as head coach at Virginia Tech (2014-19), Marquette (2008-14) and New Orleans (2006-07). His overall record after 18 seasons as a head coach is 373-228 (.621).

This past season, Williams led the Aggies to a 23-11 record as they advanced to the NCAA Tournament’s second round. A&M was ranked as high as No. 7 during the 2024-25 season.

His teams averaged nearly 21 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.

Over his last 17 seasons as a head coach, his teams have advanced to the postseason 13 times with 11 NCAA Tournament appearances and two NIT invitations, including four career NCAA Sweet 16 appearances (three at Marquette, one at Virginia Tech), one Elite Eight appearance (2013 Marquette) and one appearance in the NIT Championship game.

Entering his 32nd season as a college basketball coach, including 31 at the Division I level, Williams' coaching history includes stints as an assistant, associate head coach and head coach. 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 UT-Arlington (1994-98).

During his time as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Texas A&M on Billy Gillispie's staff, Williams helped bring two nationally ranked recruiting classes to the Aggies and was part of the basketball program’s renaissance. The 2004-05 team posted the top turnaround in the nation with a 14-game improvement from the previous year as well as the Aggies' first postseason victory in more than 20 years. In 2005-06, the Aggies tallied 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. In 2023-24, 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.

Williams has 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 Van Alstyne (population 4,369), 50 miles north of Dallas. He is one of the few NCAA Division I head coaches who 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 his most impactful initiative was starting "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. He founded it while in Milwaukee at Marquette and continued it at Virginia Tech and Texas A&M. 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 that are awarded annually to students with a disability. Additionally, Williams' wife, Corey, helped endow the Buzz and Corey Williams Family Student-Athlete Scholarship, which is awarded to a female student-athlete at Virginia Tech.

Williams has guest-lectured for a School of Military Science class at Texas A&M the past two fall semesters and co-taught a sports management class in Fall 2024.

He and the former Corey Norman 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.