Samantha Williams Named Assistant Women's Basketball Coach
8/2/2004 12:00:00 AM | WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
CHICAGO – DePaul women’s basketball coach Doug Bruno recently announced that Samantha Williams has joined the staff as an assistant coach. Williams joins the Blue Demons after serving as assistant coach at Auburn last season.
"As a former Southeastern Conference player and recruiter, Samantha brings a great wealth of understanding of what it takes to compete at the highest level both as a recruiter and as a teacher," said Bruno.
As a player at Auburn, Williams was a four-year starter and two-time co-captain while leading the Tigers to three NCAA Tournament appearances. In those three NCAA appearances, Auburn reached the Sweet Sixteen twice and the Elite Eight once. Individually, Williams set Auburn's career three-point field goal record with 161 three-pointers. In 1993, she played for the U.S. Junior National Team that took the bronze medal at the R. Williams Jones Cup in Taipei, Taiwan.
Following her four-year collegiate career, she played for the San Jose Lasers of the American Basketball League in 1996-97. The Louisville, Ky., native attended Manual High School and was a first team Parade and Street and Smith All-American. She was also named to USA Today's Super 25.
DePaul is Williams' fourth stop as an assistant coach. She started her coaching career at Saint Louis for the 2001-02 season. She followed that a stop at Columbus State where she was the recruiting coordinator for the 2002-03 season. A year ago, Williams returned to her alma mater as an assistant to Joe Ciampi where she worked with Auburn's perimeter players and was in charge of strength and conditioning for the program.
"It's an honor to work with Doug Bruno, who is one of the best teachers of the game," said Williams. "I've known Doug for 11 years, having worked his camps, and his enthusiasm for teaching the game of basketball is contagious. I know this will be a great experience and I hope to be able to bring a lot to the program."