Buzz Williams shares most important aspects of his pregame routine

Texas A&M coach Buzz Williams has an extremely detailed pregame routine that begins days before tip-off. It’s one that has helped him to plenty of success throughout his 16 seasons as a head coach, having led three teams including the Aggies to NCAA Tournament appearances.

The Aggies are so far off to a 7-4 start this season after dropping a close game to No. 4 Houston on Saturday. Speaking day after on his radio show, Williams used the upcoming week as an example of how he begins preparation with a game on Friday.

“Three days before is when the prep starts,” he said. “Tomorrow morning, I’ll train at six. That means I’m meeting with (director of scouting) TJ (Ryan) at 8. I’ll meet with him for an hour-and-a-half and then I’ll meet with coach (Dale) Layer at 9:30. So that’s if it starts three days before. If it’s not actually three days before, then it’s two days before I still have the three-day before meetings before I train. So if I train at six in the morning, I meet with TJ, I meet with coach and then I train. Then I’ll start the two-day meetings.

“The first two-day before meeting is with Devin (Johnson). Now I’ve met with TJ on certain things. I’ve met with coach on certain things. I’ve met with Devin on certain things. Along the path, I’m gathering all of the information in regards to how I learn best and kind of putting it together before I meet with Devin, who’s the defensive coordinator.”

Williams went on to explain that every member of the staff has their own areas of the game they are responsible for. While Johnson is responsible for defense, assistants Steve Roccaforte and Lyle Wolf also bring their own area of expertise to the table.

With two days until tip-off, the staff meets together to formulate a plan before practice. Then they will work with players on making sure they understand where they’re coming from.

“When we meet as a staff two days before, that’s when we somewhat talk about their responsibilities,” Williams said. “Coach (Roccaforte) is in charge of personnel. So he has information that he gives me on three-day before. So when I meet with coach and I meet with TJ, I have all of Roc’s information. So as they’re talking about certain things and certain players, I’m looking at the numbers. So we have the two-day before meeting and then we have practice. Before we have practice, we share the parts of the two-day before with the team. I always speak first and I give them concept on what I think the game is.

“Then Roc is gonna do personnel on their starters. Devin is gonna talk about the highlights, the big rocks, of defense. Then I will talk about the big rocks relative to the game. One day before, I’m gonna meet with Devin again and we’re gonna have one day before with the team. Roc’s gonna do the next four players that play on their team. Lyle (Wolf) is gonna do ‘Twitter offense.’ That’s what we call it. It’s a quick snapshot of what they do defensively. Devin is going to show us guarding their plays from two days before in practice. Then I’m gonna talk about rebounding on one day before.”

Williams then works on his game charts the night before game day. He will summarize the past few days of scouting and practice to highlight key areas of emphasis for his the Aggies to follow.

When game day arrives, the team also has a tight regimen to follow. Williams wakes up several hours prior to tip-off to begin writing personalized notes to each of his players. They’ll eat meals together and attend chapel.

“Game day, as always, is gonna have shootaround,” the coach explained. “Game day, if it’s not on the road, is gonna have chapel. I’m always gonna exercise on game day. As soon as shoot around is over, in a perfect world, I wanna have seven hours before tip because I write every player on our team a note. Two-day before I do certain things. One day before I do certain things and the day of the game I do certain things.

“It’s all based on what time the game starts. If the game starts at 1:30, that’s a really early start Saturday morning. If the game starts at 7 o’clock at night, it’s kind of a different flow. I really like it when it’s three-day before. Three-day before normally means our team is off and I can absorb everything from TJ and coach without having to talk to our players that day about the opponent.”

It’s a pregame formula that’s clearly worked for Buzz Williams at Texas A&M, where he’s twice won the SEC Coach of the Year. He admitted he prefers the days when there is more time to prepare as well, but either way the coach is coming in with a plan.

“The more time I have to absorb information, the better I am at watching it, studying it, looking at the numbers and kind of playing the game out in my brain,” he said. “Then I’m better when I talk to the team. When we get to SEC play, that’ll be different. We’re gonna play every Saturday and play either Tuesday or Wednesday.

“If we play Saturday and Tuesday, that means Sunday morning is three-day before and two-day before and we’re practicing and I’m working on my charts. That means Monday is one day before and all of the things that come with it. Then Tuesday is the game and Wednesday is our off day, which means it’s three-day before.”

Texas A&M next faces Houston Christian at 7 p.m. CT on Friday.