Buzz Williams named Coach of the Year by the Southeastern Conference

Buzz Williams has mastered the art of the midseason turnaround.

Given the magnitude of Texas A&M basketball’s improbable surge since January, Williams was selected as Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year on Monday afternoon as voted on by the league’s coaches.

Williams shares the honors with Vanderbilt’s Jerry Stackhouse, who led the Commodores to an 11-7 conference record.

In 2019-20, the AP awarded Williams the same title for leading the Aggies to a sixth-place finish in his inaugural campaign in College Station. This is the first time Williams has been named coach of the year by his peers.

Originally picked again to finish sixth in the SEC preseason polls, that expectation may have even seemed too high not too long ago.

A stunning 67-62 to loss Wofford at Reed Arena in December slumped A&M to 6-5 as conference play peered over their shoulder.

In the words of Williams, they were “left for dead” at that point.

With the season’s trajectory hanging in the balance, the Aggies responded similarly to how they countered an eight-game skid in 2022 by pulling yet another 180.

Actually, more like a full 360.

They strung together seven consecutive wins for a program-best 12-2 start to SEC play. By defeating No. 2 Alabama for their highest-ranked win in history, Williams accomplished what no other A&M basketball coach has done in a century — record 15 conference wins. 

“We don’t have the best players. We don’t have the best coaches. I’m not the best coach, but we have the best team. We have the best staff,” he said after defeating the Tide. “Everyone is very aware of what they’re good and not good at. They help each other with their strengths and weaknesses.

“The character of the team is reflected by the way this team has been playing. It’s all built on love. I’m thankful to be able to get to be a part of the energy and cohesiveness of this team.”

That palpable chemistry wasn’t synthesized overnight.

Jamie Maury, TexAgs

Before becoming A&M head coach in 2019, Williams was previously an assistant from 2004-06. 

Williams has long promoted a team culture that helped the Aggies coalesce into something bigger than they would have ever imagined.

He invented mantras like #getBETTER. He bought suits for the team and different warmup shirts with quotes of his. He gave nicknames to every player. He built a team language that uses words such as “turkeys” to describe three straight defensive stops and “socks” for drawing charges.

Most importantly, Williams stayed true to his philosophy of developing blue-collar-minded players whose impacts cannot be accurately assessed by traditional metrics. 

Wade Taylor IV emerged as one of the nation’s best scorers, with Tyrece Radford providing sufficient support along the way. Transfers Dexter Dennis, Julius Marble II and Andersson Garcia proved reliable, especially in clutch situations. 

"They just don't flinch,” Williams said of his team following a 62-56 victory over Arkansas in February. “They are very accepting of who they are, who we are, what we have to do, why we have to do it. Very low ego. Great humility. Incredible togetherness. They play with the right kind of chip, with zero selfishness.

“So many things have to transpire when you start 6-5. None of it is possible without the elite character of all of the people in the program."

Through their turbulent but miraculous flight to second place in the SEC standings, A&M also assembled an elite list of accomplishments.

Or as Williams would probably say, additions to their “culture wall.”

They cracked the Associated Press Top 25 for the first time under Williams in October. They snapped Auburn’s then-nation-leading 28-game home winning streak and secured season series sweeps over them, Florida, LSU and Missouri. The Aggies also avenged last year’s SEC Tournament finals loss to Tennessee with a resounding 68-63 upset win against the Volunteers two weeks ago. 

Williams transformed Reed Arena into an impenetrable fortress through a perfect 9-0 ledger against conference foes in College Station. That helped revive a buzz surrounding Aggie basketball that had been otherwise lost for many years. For the first time since 2009-10, A&M closed the regular season with seven straight home crowds of 10,000 or more.

This time around, Williams left no room for doubt for the NCAA selection committee.

He doesn’t need to pore over advanced analytics or plea with anyone.

The Maroon & White are almost assuredly bound for its first NCAA Tournament appearance in five years.

Aside from the obvious, the only thing A&M’s “body of work” proves this year is that Williams is one of the best coaches in the country.