Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Tennessee State Williams Relieved of Coaching Duties

COACH TRAVIS WILLIAMS
ENDS TSU ERA WITH 23-40 RECORD
NASHVILLE, Tennessee  --  Tennessee State Director of Athletics Teresa Phillips announced on Tuesday that Travis Williams has been relieved of his position as head men’s basketball coach.

“We thank Coach Williams for his hard work both as an assistant and as a head coach, and we wish him the best in all future endeavors,” Phillips said. “We want to move in a different direction and believe that this decision is in the best interest of Tennessee State and our Men's Basketball program.”
 
A nation-wide search for Williams’s replacement will begin immediately.
 
Williams held an overall record of 23-40 in his two seasons as the Tigers’ head coach, but TSU’s win total fell from 20 the year before Williams took over to just five in 2013-14.
 
The Tigers won two of their last three games and almost knocked off OVC Champion Eastern Kentucky on the road in the season finale, but TSU lost its first 10 contests of the season and were 2-21 at one point.
 
Williams coached three All-Ohio Valley Conference players in Robert Covington, Kellen Thornton and Patrick Miller, in his tenure at the helm of the program. Covington and Thornton are both playing professionally, while Miller ranked fourth in the nation in points per game (23.2) this past season as a Tiger.
 
The 16th head coach in Tennessee State history, Williams led TSU to the CollegeInsider.com Tournament in 2013, where his team fell in the opening round at Evansville, 84-72.
 
Williams, a native of Tifton, Ga., served as an assistant for previous TSU head coach John Cooper from 2009-2012.
 
When he joined the Tigers in the summer of 2009, Williams brought 10 years of coaching experience as an assistant and head coach.

 
In 2004, Williams received his first head coach appointment at Fort Valley State University in Georgia. He led the Wildcats to a pair of winning seasons during his tenure.
 
COURTESY TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION

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