Maryland Basketball Coaching Staff

Buzz Williams

Buzz Williams was named the head coach of the Maryland Men’s Basketball program on Wednesday, April 2. Williams has led his programs to 11 NCAA Tournament appearances and 13 20-win seasons in 18 years as a head coach.

Most recently, Williams served as the head coach for six seasons at Texas A&M from 2019-2025, leading the Aggies to the NCAA Tournament in each of the last three seasons. He was named SEC Coach of the Year twice, in 2019-20 and 2022-23. Williams served as head coach at Virginia Tech (five years, 2014-19), Marquette (six years, 2008-14) and New Orleans (one year, 2006-07). His overall record after 18 seasons as a head coach is 373-228 (.621).

Williams has won at least 100 games at Marquette, Virginia Tech and Texas A&M. He is seeking to become just the third coach in Division I head coach to win at least 100 games at four different institutions, along with Maryland Hall of Fame coach Lefty Driesell (Davidson, Maryland, James Madison, Georgia State) and Steve Alford (Iowa, New Mexico, UCLA, Nevada).

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

Williams is one of 12 active Division I head coaches to win at least one NCAA Tournament game at three different programs. He’s coached in 23 NCAA Tournament games, winning 12, both of which rank among the Top 25 among all Division I head coaches.

For his age (52) and his number of years as a head coach (18), Williams is the active leader in total victories and ranks No. 2 in NCAA Tournament games and NCAA Tournament victories.

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 seasons at the Division I level, Williams’ coaching history includes stints as an assistant, associate head coach and head coach. In addition to his head coaching stints at Texas A&M, Virginia Tech, Marquette and New Orleans, 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 renaissance for the program. The 2004-05 team posted the top turnaround in the nation with a 14-game improvement from the previous year and posted the Aggies’ first postseason victory in more than 20 years. In 2005-06, the Aggies posted 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 Freshman 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 the small Texas town of Van Alstyne (population 4,369), which is located 50 miles north of Dallas, Texas. He is one of the few NCAA Division I head coaches that 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 the most impactful initiative by Williams was the founding of “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. Originally founded during William’s time in Milwaukee, Wisconsin at Marquette, Buzz’s Bunch continued during his time in Blacksburg, Virginia at Virginia Tech and now at Texas A&M. Every player, coach and staff member has been lucky to develop a relationship, learn and grow from these children as 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, which are awarded annually to students with a disability. Additionally, Williams’ wife, Corey, helped endow a scholarship -- The Buzz and Corey Williams Family Student-Athlete Scholarship -- which is awarded to a female student-athlete at Virginia Tech.

Always seeking to connect to young people, Williams has guest-lectured for the School of Military Science (SOMS) class at Texas A&M the past two fall semesters and he co-taught Sports Management (SPMT) class in the fall of 2024. His lectures for SOMS 380, originating from the Rudder Forum inside the historic Rudder Theatre Complex, featured topics such as “Learning How You Learn,” “Leading Through Change,” “The Birthday Paradox,” The Principal-Agent Problem” and “Never Assume Anything.” Williams also taught similar classes at Virginia Tech.

Williams is married to the former Corey Norman and the couple 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.