University of Memphis Athletics
Men's Basketball
- Title:
- Assistant Coach
- Phone:
- 901-678-2346
Alvin "Pooh" Williamson had spent time from 2001-04 and 2013-16 as an assistant coach on Tubby Smith’s staff at Tulsa, Texas Tech, and Memphis.
He was the first player Smith recruited in his first head-coaching roll at Tulsa, and was a four-year letterwinner at Tulsa, helping the Golden Hurricane to two consecutive NCAA Sweet 16 appearances.
While with Texas Tech he worked with the Red Raiders’ backcourt, while also assisting with scouting and recruiting. He has been a part of coaching staffs that have guided teams to eight NCAA Tournament appearances over the last 13 seasons.
He had previously spent the past eight years in the Lone Star State which included stops at Texas A&M, SMU, TCU, and Texas Tech. He has also coached at Washington State, Illinois State, Tulane, Tulsa, and Wichita State.
His season at TCU helped the Horned Frogs in their first season in the Big 12 Conference, and had the program’s first-ever win over a top-five ranked opponent (No. 5 ranked Kansas on February 6).
Prior to his one season at SMU, Williamson spent four seasons at Texas A&M, as the Aggies earned four straight at-large bids to the NCAA Tournament. He helped the Texas A&M program, under head coach Mark Turgeon, compile a 97-40 overall record, and at least 24 wins each season.
While at Texas A&M, Williamson coached future NBA players in DeAndre Jordan, Khris Middleton, and Donald Sloan. He followed Turgeon to College Station from Wichita State, where he helped the Shockers win a Missouri Valley Conference championship, and advanc to the NCAA Sweet 16 in 2006.
Prior to his time with the Shockers, Williams was an assistant coach at Tulsa for four years, serving as interim head coach midway through the 2004-05 season. The Golden Hurricane went 68-57 overall during his four seasons. TU won the 2002 Western Athletic Conference (WAC) regular season title, the 2003 WAC Tournament and advanced to the NCAA Tournament Second Round twice. As the interim head coach, he posted his first career victory against New Mexico State (83-63) on Jan. 10, 2005, before finishing the season with a 7-15 record.
Williamson served as an assistant at Tulane for one season in 2000-01 following two years at Illinois State, where he tutored guards Victor Williams and Tarise Bryson, the MVC’s Freshman and Newcomer of the Year, respectively. He earned his start in collegiate coaching with two seasons at Washington State, where he was instrumental in the development of starting point guard Blake Pengally, who posted 120 assists as a freshman.
A four-year letterwinner at Tulsa, Williamson played in 118 career games and was one of the driving forces behind the Golden Hurricanes’ back-to-back NCAA Sweet 16 runs in 1994 and 1995. As TU’s point guard, he averaged 14.0 points per game in six career NCAA Tournament games, which ranks third in program history only behind Gary Collier and Shea Seals. Williamson started 63 games over his final two seasons en route to All-MVC First-Team and All-MVC Defensive-Team accolades. He posted a 12.8 points per game average 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 from Tulsa in 1995. He and his wife, Rosemary, have two sons: Jamal and Joshua.
