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Fred Williams (basketball, born 1957)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Fred Williams
Auburn Tigers
PositionAssociate head coach
LeagueSEC
Personal information
Born (1957-02-08) February 8, 1957 (age 67)
NationalityAmerican
Career information
CollegeBoise State (1976–1979)
Career history
As coach:
1995–1997USC (women's)
1998Utah Starzz (assistant)
1999–2001Utah Starzz
2003–2004Charlotte Sting (assistant)
2009–2012Atlanta Dream (assistant)
2012–2013Atlanta Dream
2014–2018Tulsa Shock / Dallas Wings
2019–2022Los Angeles Sparks (assistant)
2022Los Angeles Sparks (interim head coach)
2022–presentAuburn (women's) (associate head coach)
Stats at WNBA.com

Fred Williams (born February 8, 1957) is an American basketball coach who is currently the associate head coach for the Auburn Tigers women's basketball team.[1][2][3]

Career

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Williams served as an assistant coach at the University of Southern California from 1983 to 1990 and as head coach from 1995 to 1997. Williams coached the Utah Starzz (now the San Antonio Stars) of the WNBA from 1999 to 2001 and later served as an assistant coach with the Charlotte Sting. Williams coached the San Diego Siege of the NWBL, before joining the Atlanta Dream as an assistant coach in 2009.[4]

Williams took over as head coach and general manager of the Atlanta Dream of the WNBA on August 27, 2012, when the team fired Marynell Meadors.[5] The Dream lost their first game under Williams, falling to the Tulsa Shock 84–80.[6] However, the team rebounded, winning six of their next seven, and qualified for the playoffs.

In his first full season as head coach, the Dream got out to a 10–1 record, which at the time was the best in the league. However, forward Sancho Lyttle went out with a fractured foot, and the Dream struggled to finish the season, ending with a 17–17 record. Nevertheless, the Dream got hot in the playoffs and earned their third trip to the WNBA Finals in four seasons, losing in three games to the Minnesota Lynx.

Despite guiding his team to an Eastern Conference championship, it was announced at the end of the season that Williams' contract would not be renewed.[7][8] On January 23, 2014, the Shock announced his hiring as their third head coach since the franchise moved to Tulsa, replacing Gary Kloppenburg.[3]

Coaching record

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Legend
Regular season G Games coached W Games won L Games lost W–L % Win–loss %
Playoffs PG Playoff games PW Playoff wins PL Playoff losses PW–L % Playoff win–loss %
Team Year G W L W–L% Finish PG PW PL PW–L% Result
UTA 1999 28 13 15 .463 6th in West Missed Playoffs
UTA 2000 32 18 14 .563 5th in West Missed Playoffs
UTA 2001 13 5 8 .384 3rd in West Left Before Playoffs
ATL 2012 10 7 3 .700 3rd in East 3 1 2 .333 Lost in Eastern Conference Semi-Finals
ATL 2013 34 17 17 .500 2nd in East 8 4 4 .500 Lost in WNBA Finals
TUL 2014 34 12 22 .353 5th in West Missed Playoffs
TUL 2015 34 18 16 .529 3rd in West 2 0 2 .000 Lost in Western Conference Semi-Finals
DAL 2016 34 11 23 .324 5th in West - - - - Missed Playoffs
DAL 2017 34 16 18 .471 4th in West 1 0 1 .000 Lost in 1st Round
DAL 2018 31 14 17 .452 5th in West Missed Playoffs
LAS 2022 24 8 16 .333 12th in West Missed Playoffs
Career 308 139 169 .451 14 5 9 .357

References

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  1. ^ "Veteran WNBA coach Fred Williams joins Auburn women's basketball staff". auburntigers.com. Auburn Tigers Athletics. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
  2. ^ "LA Sparks Part Ways with General Manager/Head Coach Derek Fisher". sparks.wnba.com. WNBA. Retrieved June 7, 2022.
  3. ^ a b "Shock hire Fred Williams as coach", Associated Press at ESPN.com, January 23, 2014.
  4. ^ WNBA Biography
  5. ^ Atlanta Dream Name Fred Williams Head Coach and General Manager
  6. ^ "Hodges, Johnson help Tulsa end road skid". Archived from the original on 2012-11-02. Retrieved 2012-08-29.
  7. ^ Fred Williams out as Dream head coach/GM
  8. ^ Atlanta Dream won't renew coach Fred Williams' contract
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