Williamson Joins Miami Basketball Staff
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – University of Miami men’s basketball head coach Jim Larrañaga has announced the addition of Alvin “Pooh” Williamson as an assistant coach to his staff. A college coaching veteran, Williamson spent the last two years as an assistant at Memphis.
“Pooh has a tremendous amount of experience as a coach and recruiter and has been especially effective as a mentor to the players with whom he has worked,” Larrañaga said. “I’ve known Pooh since he was an assistant at Wichita State when we played them in the 2006 NCAA Tournament while we were at George Mason. He comes highly recommended by one of my dear friends in coaching, Tubby Smith. We welcome Pooh and his family to Coral Gables.”
Williamson played under Smith at Tulsa and spent time from 2013-18 as an assistant coach on Smith’s coaching staffs at Texas Tech and Memphis. As an assistant coach, Williamson has helped guide eight teams to NCAA Tournament appearances.
“I am excited to be here and have the chance to work with Coach L and his staff and young men,” Williamson said. “This is a great opportunity to work with good people and compete in a tremendous conference. Miami has had a lot of success under Coach L, and I look forward to helping maintain that and building on it even further.”
Prior to his time at Memphis, he coached for eight years in the state of Texas with stops at Texas A&M, SMU, TCU and Texas Tech. He also has coached at Washington State, Illinois State, Tulane, Tulsa and Wichita State.
Williamson coached at Texas Tech for three seasons from 2013-16 and helped lead the Red Raiders to the NCAA Tournament in 2016. Prior to that, he spent one season at SMU and one year at TCU in the Horned Frogs’ first season in the Big 12 Conference.
The Beggs, Okla., native coached for four seasons at Texas A&M from 2007-11, with the Aggies earning four straight berths in the NCAA Tournament. Working under head coach Mark Turgeon, he helped the Texas A&M program compile a 97-40 overall record and at least 24 wins each season.
While at Texas A&M, Williamson coached future NBA players DeAndre Jordan, Khris Middleton and Donald Sloan. He followed Turgeon to College Station from Wichita State, where he helped the Shockers win the 2006 Missouri Valley Conference championship and advance to the NCAA Sweet 16, where WSU was eliminated by George Mason, which was coached at the time by Larrañaga.
Prior to his time with the Shockers, Williamson was an assistant coach at Tulsa for four years, serving as interim head coach midway through the 2004-05 season. Tulsa won the 2002 Western Athletic Conference regular-season title and 2003 WAC Tournament and twice advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Williamson earned his start in collegiate coaching with two seasons at Washington State from 1996-98.
A four-year letterwinner at Tulsa, Williamson played in 118 career games and was a key factor in the Golden Hurricanes’ back-to-back NCAA Sweet 16 runs in 1994 and 1995. A point guard, he averaged 14.0 points per game in six career NCAA Tournament games, which ranks third in program history.
Williamson started 63 games over his final two seasons in claiming All-MVC First-Team and All-MVC Defensive-Team accolades. He averaged 12.8 points per game as a senior and completed his career ranked No. 7 on the school’s career assists chart and No. 10 on the career steals list.
Williamson earned his bachelor’s degree in business management in 1995 from Tulsa. He and his wife, Rosemary, have two sons, Jamal and Joshua.
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Pooh Williamson Coaching Career
1996-98 Washington State
1998-2000 Illinois State
2000-01 Tulane
2001-04 Tulsa
2004-05 Tulsa (Interim head coach)
2005-07 Wichita State
2007-11 Texas A&M
2011-12 SMU
2012-13 TCU
2013-16 Texas Tech
2016-18 Memphis
2018-present Miami
