Less than five minutes into an early-season game against Alcorn State, Buzz Williams was already drenched in sweat.
Maryland men’s basketball’s first-year coach marched up and down the sideline, barked orders at players and hopped up and down energetically in an effort to improve his team’s intensity. Williams displayed a level of energy most coaches rarely show for entire games, much less the opening minutes of a nonconference buy game.
“I was probably a little too exuberant on Tuesday night,” Williams joked three days after the game.
This is nothing new for the Terps’ coach. Throughout his 19-year head coaching career, Williams has become known for his sideline antics. He once sweated so profusely that he had to trade his suit for an orange t-shirt in the second half of a 2017 Virginia Tech game.
None of that has changed in College Park. By the first media timeout against Alcorn State, Williams shed his blue sports coat, removed his glasses and wiped sweat off his forehead with a white towel. It took until overtime to reach that point against Mount St. Mary’s on Wednesday, but Williams closed out the game in a grey tie and white button down shirt after starting with a black sports coat.
“You guys see him,” junior guard Isaiah Watts said. “He has a lot of energy. He brings that energy every day.”
Williams admitted he probably cares too much about the singular value of each possession. He often strays outside of his designated coaching box on the sideline, sometimes wandering past the halfcourt line or even onto the court.
But Williams pushed back on the notion that he’s displayed anything close to his peak intensity. He said his sideline demeanor has “dramatically evolved” since his first season at New Orleans in 2006, partly because of how college basketball has changed, but also because of time.
“I’m old now,” Williams, 53, said. “I’ve tried to morph and be a little bit more mature. … I’ve kind of taken some of that energy, and maybe some of that passion, and tried to invest it in the relationships with our players, so that in real time, I can say things that I hope that they receive in the right way.”
Williams said he’s not able to coach players like he used to, and that if he did, he likely wouldn’t have a job. But the rural Texas native still demands a baseline level of grit and intensity.
Certain players like graduate guard Diggy Coit want to be coached that way. Coit told Williams on Tuesday that he’s never been held accountable in his life as much as he currently is, according to Williams. It paid off with Coit posting a career-best 41-point performance on Wednesday.
Senior forward Elijah Saunders has struggled to adjust to the physical nature of a Williams-coached team. But with the permission of Saunders’ father, Williams tries to toughen up the Virginia transfer by hitting him with pads in practice.
[5-star forward Baba Oladotun commits to Maryland men’s basketball]
“I try to hurt him,” Williams said. “He’s starting to come around, and we need him to come around. … I don’t think it’s his nature, but his nature is bending.”
A second half scuffle on Wednesday unveiled part of Saunders’ transformation. The forward tussled with a Mount St. Mary’s player on the hardwood, grabbed the ball out of his hands and charged at his opponent, having to be held back by a teammate and referee.
Nobody was more elated than Williams, who pumped his arms more than a dozen times as he walked onto the court with a grin and a beet red face.
“I was so happy,” Williams said. “Too animated. Technical-worthy.”
Freshman guard Darius Adams is also learning, diving onto the court and recovering a loose ball for the first time Wednesday, according to Williams. Maryland calls that a “Superman.”
In the same game, Adams closed out on a Mount St. Mary’s 3-point shooter and forced a turnover. Williams passionately pumped his fist, celebrated in Adams’ face and whacked him over the head with a plastic water bottle.
Williams was similarly animated during overtime, at one point backpedaling at full speed with his arms above his head as the Terps defended a possession.
He doesn’t maintain that level of intensity for all 40 minutes of most games. It’d be impossible too. But Williams still coaches hard, pulling players aside for advice during free throws or timeouts.
Regardless of how much he sweats or how energetic he gets, Williams said he’s ultimately just trying to instill a certain culture and identity that he feels works best.
“I think the best programs are led by the players, and we want to establish a great program here,” he said. “I want our players and our program to all have that same intangible, and we’re not there yet. We’re not even in the first grade version of it, but I do think that we’re approaching kindergarten — and so we’re making progress.”
