April 13, 2007
by Doug Richards
As she stood talking to reporters at her introductory press conference, new UCF women's basketball head coach Joi Williams could not stop mentioning the word "home." Whether referring to her return to her native Florida or looking ahead to coaching her team in the new Convocation Center, Williams Felton was happy to be home.
On March 29, Williams officially returned to the Sunshine State when she was introduced as the 11th head coach in program history. The Jacksonville native spent the previous four seasons as the head coach at Murray State. Williams is familiar with the area after having served on the coaching staff at Florida from 1990-02.
"This is really a blessing to be back at home. This is something that I have dreamed about," Williams told the media, members of her team and UCF Athletics Association officials at her press conference. "This is truly home."
Williams was successful away from Florida, leading Murray State to a 21-10 mark in 2006-07 and a trip to the Women's National Invitation Tournament. The 20-victory season was the first for the Racers in 18 years.
Williams took a program that had struggled to compete prior to her arrival and developed Murray State into one of the top teams in the Ohio Valley Conference. Using discipline and her own coaching philosophy, she turned around the Racers program.
UCF director of athletics Keith Tribble expects Williams to mold the Knights into a winning team using the same formula.
"I thought it was important to have an individual that was experienced in building a program," Tribble said. "Taking a program that was not experiencing success, but to build it up to a point where they will leave the program in better shape than when they started. We talked to 15 (coaching) candidates and had over 25 on our list. But as we went through, there was only one candidate who really stood out above the rest and that was Joi."
With the Convocation Center scheduled to open in the fall and all of the growth surrounding the Knights' athletics program, Williams knew that returning to her home state and taking over the UCF program was the right move.
"I know that this is a great opportunity. We are in Conference USA now and Central Florida is making great strides," she said. "To me, this is the premier job that I had my sights set on because I really feel like this team can compete with any team in the state and obviously can compete with any team in Conference USA from what we have to offer."
Williams is certainly familiar with running a successful program in Florida. For 12 seasons, she was a key member of Carol Ross' staff at Florida, serving as the Gators' recruiting coordinator for several campaigns. During Williams' tenure, Florida participated in the NCAA Tournament nine times.
She was recognized as one of the top recruiters in the country at Florida and was responsible for the arrival of every student-athlete into the program. Williams helped attract five All-America selections to Florida and nine standouts who were recruited by and played under her were selected in the Women's National Basketball Association Draft.
Williams plans to use her numerous connections in the state to land top talent for the Knights.
"I was born and raised here and I am just familiar with Florida," Williams said. "I have recruited and signed players from all over the state of Florida. I'm excited because I know a lot of people in this state and know where the good recruits are."
Recruiting is about get easier for Williams. The Convocation Center will give the Knights one of the top venues in the region. The 10,000-seat arena will be one of Williams' main recruiting tools.
"That plays a big part in selling this university and I believe that we will have some of the best facilities in the state," Williams said. "That will be huge with recruits."
Williams' coaching style and impressive credentials will also help attract prep players to UCF. Her Murray State teams were annually among the national leaders in several statistical categories. This past season, the Racers were ninth in free-throw percentage. The team showed its discipline on the court, averaging just under 14 turnovers per contest, the 11th-best mark in the country.
In the classroom, several of her players were recognized as OVC Commissioner's Academic Honor Roll recipients and this past spring, one of her players garnered CoSIDA District Four Academic All-America honors.
Prior to moving to Murray State, Williams spent the 2003-04 campaign as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Clemson. During the summer of 2005, she served as a coach for the United States National Under-19 team trials at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., assisting with the implementation of practice drills and training during the trials process.
Collegiately, Williams was a four-year starter at point guard at USF and currently ranks 11th on the Bulls' career assists list.
Since taking over the UCF program, Williams has gotten to know her team. She had the opportunity to individually instruct her players on several occasions and knows what areas her team must improve on and is looking forward to the challenge ahead.
"We have a lot of work to do. I look at it as a building process," Williams said. "The expectations around here have not been very high and we are going to change that. Even though we are at the bottom of the conference now, I want people to know that we could be at the top of it next year. It is a building process, but something that I am not afraid of."
Williams can be sure that once the season begins in the fall, UCF will have several new fans. Her parents, who are both retired, live in Jacksonville and are planning on attending each home contest. The close proximity to her family is another reason why Williams is happy that she is now home.
"They are big fans," Williams said. "It is a great thing that they can share in this with me."