Buzz Williams

Brent Langdon "Buzz" Williams (born September 1, 1972) is an American basketball coach. He is the head coach of the Virginia Tech Hokies. He served as head men's basketball coach at Marquette from 2008 to 2014 and at New Orleans during the 2006–07 season, and as an assistant coach at the Texas-Arlington, Texas A&M–Kingsville, Northwestern State, Colorado State, and Texas A&M.

Brent Langdon Williams grew up in Van Alstyne, Texas. He earned a bachelor's degree in kinesiology from Oklahoma City University in 1994 and a master's degree in the same field at Texas A&M University–Kingsville in 1999. Williams married his wife, Corey Norman, in 2000. They have two daughters (Addyson and Zera) and two sons (Calvin and Mason). Referring to his boundless energy, his coaches at Navarro College nicknamed him Buzz.

Williams coached Marquette to a 25–10 record in the 2008–09 season, where they lost to the Missouri Tigers in the second round of the 2009 NCAA Tournament. He coached Marquette to a 22–12 record in the 2009–10 season, which ended with a close loss to the 11th-seeded Washington Huskies in the first round of the 2010 NCAA Tournament.

During the 2010–11 campaign, Williams led the Golden Eagles back to the Sweet Sixteen for the first time since 2003. His team went 22–15 including a 9–9 Big East Conference record. They lost in the quarterfinals of the 2011 Big East Men's Basketball Tournament to Louisville. Marquette received an at-large bid in the 2011 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament. There they defeated Xavier in the second round and Syracuse in the third round to advance to the Sweet Sixteen before they were defeated by North Carolina. After winning a share of the Big East Men's Regular Season, Marquette received an at-large bid in the 2013 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament. There they earned come from behind victories over Davidson in the first round and Butler in the second round. In the Sweet Sixteen they defeated ACC regular season and conference champion Miami Hurricanes to earn a trip to Buzz Williams's first Elite Eight, where they lost to Syracuse.

The 2013–14 season was Williams' worst at Marquette, finishing 17–15 with a loss to Xavier in the Big East tournament.

Buzz Williams was named the head basketball coach at Virginia Tech on March 21, 2014, replacing James Johnson. The move had critics questioning why would he leave Marquette for, in the words of The Washington Post, the ACC's "stepchild program" . The Chicago Sun-Times characterized it as a "head-scratching move to an ACC bottom-feeder." Williams left behind a program at Marquette, which had only 9 scholarship players – none taller than 6'7" – for new coach Steve Wojciechowski.

2014-2015 Season

In Williams' first season, the team finished 15th in the ACC with a 2–16 conference record, matching the lowest ACC win total in Virginia Tech history. However, with several true freshmen playing a significant amount of minutes, a young nucleus was established. Expectations grew further when Williams landed commitments from Maryland transfer, Seth Allen, and Zach LeDay from South Florida University. Both became eligible in the 2015-16 season, Williams' second at Virginia Tech.

2015-2016 Season

After a slow start to the season, the team quickly improved, as several new recruits began playing significant minutes along with the transfers. On January 4, 2016, the Hokies defeated their in-state rival and 4th ranked Virginia Cavaliers at home, marking Williams's biggest win at Virginia Tech to date. The team had continued success in the ACC, ending the regular season with another upset of a top-10 rival, this time the 7th ranked Miami Hurricanes. Williams' Hokies finished the regular season at 10-8 in ACC conference play; an improvement of 8 wins from the previous year.

On July 13, 2016, Athletic Director, Whit Babcock announced that Virginia Tech and Buzz Williams had agreed to a contract extension through the 2022-23 season. At the same press conference, Buzz also announced his establishment of a new endowment and scholarship for the university. The Buzz’s Bunch Scholarship Endowment will be awarded annually to an undergraduate student at Virginia Tech in any field of study who is registered at the school with a disability. Also, "The Buzz and Corey Williams Family Student-Athlete Scholarship – In Memory of T. Marshall Hahn" will be awarded annually to an undergraduate female student-athlete at Virginia Tech.

2016-2017 Season

The Hokies Men's Basketball team began the 2016-17 season with an 11-1 non-conference record and won its first ACC conference game against #5 ranked Duke in Cassell Coliseum on December 31, 2016. On January 29, 2017, Buzz Williams earned his 200th career win as a head coach with a win against Boston College in Blacksburg. After going 5-6 in its first 11 ACC games, the Hokies defeated #12 Virginia in double overtime, which was Williams' 4th victory over a top-15 team in the past two years. The Hokies parlayed their success with a trip to the NCAA Tournament, for the first time since 2007.