10 Fascinating Facts About Buzz Williams, Texas A&M's Quirky Coach
Tomorrow marks Buzz Williams’ second trip to Rupp Arena to play Kentucky, his first as the coach of the Texas A&M Aggies. In December 2017, Williams brought his Virginia Tech Hokies to Lexington and left with a 93-85 loss. In total, Williams is 0-3 vs. Kentucky, both losses with the Aggies happening in College Station.
As I do ahead of each game, I pulled up the game notes to learn more about the Aggies. On page two, I realized this would be a much different exercise than normal. After covering the basics — Texas A&M is on a seven-game winning streak, has won nine straight SEC games going back to last season, has lots of transfers, etc. — the game notes took a really fun turn. A section entitled “What’s Unique About Aggie Hoops?” included ten fun and undisputably unique facts about Williams and the culture he’s built in College Station. After reading them, I’m starting to think that he’s the most fascinating coach in the SEC.
Allow me to share my favorites.
1. The Commodores or Bruno Mars on game day
When the Aggies make their final preparations for tomorrow’s game, they’ll be doing it to the sweet sounds of The Commodores or Bruno Mars.
“During gameday shoot-arounds, the Aggies traditionally vibe to The Commodores Pandora station on the team Turtlebox bluetooth speaker. This may have changed Bruno Mars.”
If you’re not familiar, The Commodores is an American funk and soul band that reached the height of its fame in the 1970s-80s when Lionel Richie was the lead singer. Their biggest hits are “Easy,” Three Times a Lady,” “Nightshift,” and, everyone’s favorite song to boogie to at weddings, “Brick House.” Bruno Mars is, well, come on. You know Bruno Mars.
Get your weekend started like an Aggie with these tunes.
2. Emoji Birthday Tweets
“On the occasion of a player or staff member’s birthday, Williams honors the occasion with an emoji-filled tweet that always includes a wrong number of birthdays for the celebration.”
So, basically, Williams is your aunt who overdoes it with emojis and forgets how old you are.
3. Thank-You letters on the road
When the Aggies break bread in Lexington tonight, they’ll have to write a thank-you letter to someone.
“A staple of every road trip are the Aggies’ Thank You letters. Each coach/player/staff member on the trip writes a Thank You letter to someone in their life at the first team meal of the roadie.”
4. He’s a bookworm
According to game notes, Williams reads 4-5 books per month. In 2022, he read 53 books and shared the list on Twitter.
He also encourages others to read.
“For the last 11 years, Williams has selected and gifted a book to every player, staff member, and their family on the initial road trip of the season. Describing his commitment to reading, Williams said, “Who you are today and who you will be five years from today are the people you meet and the books that you read. Regardless of the genre of book that you read, they say it’s worth five years of experience.”
5. Quote Shirts
Buzz is famous for wearing suit vests during games, but under that vest and button-down is another sartorial quirk: inspirational t-shirts.
“Quote Shirts have been a pillar in the culture of Buzz Williams’ programs throughout his career as a head coach. So far in 2022-23, seven Quote Shirts have made their debuts:
- ‘We Are Always Choosing’
- ‘Be Allergic to the Big Meal’
- ‘Never Let That Influence This’
- ‘Airtime Equals Our Time’
- ‘In Order To Climb the Ladder, You Must Go One Step At a Time’
- ‘HUNT’
- ‘Where there’s love, there’s magic’”
Buzz sported that last one on Tuesday:
After the win over Florida, he wore what appears to be a shirt saying “Leave it better than you found it” to the postgame press conference:
At the end of each season, he has quote-shirt quilts made.
What shirt will he wear tomorrow??
6. “Shooting with Buzz” practice regimen
At each practice, Williams makes his players do the “Shooting with Buzz” Drill.
“Each player must move their way through 18 shooting spots – some straight catch and shoot and some off of movement – and make 7 of 10 shots. The clock starts after the player’s first make and stops once the whole circuit is done. Managers rebound the shots and pass a ball to Williams, who stands near the player, handing the ball off for each shot. On the sideline, a manager stands in front of a giant whiteboard, keeping tallies of the players’ score at each position. On the other side, a record book of times it took to complete the course are logged.”
7. He gives lectures at Texas A&M
When he’s not coaching, Williams moonlights as a teacher on Texas A&M’s campus.
“Last fall, Williams presented four lectures to Texas A&M students for SOMS 380 (School of Military Science), in collaboration with the Corps of Cadets and the Hollingsworth Center for Ethical Leadership.”
8. He runs a non-profit for children with special needs
During his tenure at Marquette, Williams created “Buzz’s Bunch,” a non-profit for special needs children. Since then, it’s grown to over 300 members in the Milwaukee, Blacksburg, and College Station areas.
“Buzz’s Bunch was implemented by Williams as a way to bring together children with special needs and allow them to fall in love with basketball through an annual free camp and free tickets to a game.”
9. Phones away
This wasn’t in the game notes, but I was so intrigued I did my own research on Buzz. He likes to fill his teams with “OKGs,” aka “our kind of guys.” OKGs do not have their phones out at team meetings.
10. He sometimes wears a headband to lighten the mood
Also not in the game notes, but ten is a nice round number. If tomorrow’s game gets stressful for the Aggies, you might see Buzz put on one of his player’s headbands.
Speaking of heads, Buzz has been shaving his for almost 18 years, a practice that goes back to when his wife was pregnant and they were trying to save money.
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