Arkansas’ Corliss Williamson explains why he decided not to coach at a big Division I school, how he teaches his players and answers the question: Do his players call him “Coach Nasty”? (run time is 3:31; transcript below the jump).
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Lost Lettermen: This is Jim Weber from LostLettermen.com. I’m joined by Arkansas’ Corliss Williamson; the most outstanding player of the 1994 NCAA Tournament.
Corliss thanks for joining us. I want to ask you, you’re now an assistant for Arkansas Baptist College. A lot of people ask us, you had such a long NBA career, made a lot of money, why are you now coaching for a small school like Arkansas Baptist?
Corliss Williamson: Well I took the opportunity to give back to my community and to start coaching and gain some experience but still have some freedom to do some things with my family rather than being at a Division I program or a bigger school where I have more responsibilities.
Last December I took over as head coach and this is my first full season as head coach here.
LL: How are the Buffaloes doing this year?
CW: We’re getting better. It’s still a struggle; where we’re at we don’t have scholarships so we kind of miss out on the top talent. But our guys are definitely playing a lot better than they were earlier in the year and looking forward to having a pretty good second half of the season.
LL: We gotta know what do the players call you? Is it just coach, Mr. Williamson, Mr. “Nasty”? What do they call you by?
CW: Most of the time its just “coach” or “coach Corliss,” somewhere in there. But last year and the year before when I started off, they were still used to calling me Corliss from my playing days. So as we’ve gotten new players in we’ve kind of changed, especially taking the head coaching role.
LL: Obviously they remember you from your NBA days, but is it getting to the point now where these kids are so young that they don’t remember you at Arkansas?
CW: Oh yeah. A lot of these kids, some of them weren’t even born or were so young they couldn’t understand what was going on the television, so they remember me from the NBA.
I try to do a little history lesson every now and then, just to show them how the teams that I played on in Arkansas played the game of basketball and I kind of use that as a reference so they understand what I expect from them.
LL: I know you had talked about, right before you retired, getting involved in real estate. Do you also do that in the off season or is this a full-time gig for you?
CW: No, I’m strictly coaching now. I do a little bit of investing in real estate but I know my heart and mind are really focused in on basketball. It’s the career path I want to take. So most of my time is devoted to becoming a better coach and hopefully get another team.
LL: How special is it being back in Arkansas, so close to where your college glory days were?
CW: Oh it’s great. I’m back home with family. The wife and I and the kids, we have a great support system here with family and friends and I really don’t see myself anywhere else after I retire. There’s nothing like home and I really enjoy being here.
Got a question or comment? E-mail him here
All Corliss Williamson Interviews
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