Jim Williams (basketball) (original) (raw)

Jim Williams (March 3, 1919 – May 31, 2007) was an American basketball coach and college athletics administrator. He served the head coach of the Colorado State University men's basketball program for 26 seasons, from 1954 to 1980. Williams succeeded Bill Strannigan following the program's first ever NCAA Tournament appearance. During his tenure he amassed 352 wins, the most for any Division I college coach in Colorado history. His teams made a total of four NCAA Tournament and two NIT appearances. In 1969 he took the Rams to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament, beating arch-rival Colorado in the Sweet Sixteen before losing a tightly contested game to Drake University.