Honors & Accomplishments
• Helped lead Cornell to a four-game improvement in year two as well as a spot in the Ivy League Men's Basketball Tournament.
• Improved three more games in 2019 and helped team to first .500 conference season in nine years in 2019, culminating in an invitation to compete in the CIT Postseason Tournament.
• Coached 15 All-Ivy or All-Patriot League players in the last nine years.
Coaching Experience
• Assistant Coach, Cornell University (2016-present)
• Assistant Coach, Princeton University (2015-16)
• Assistant Coach, Lafayette College (2010-15)
• Assistant Coach, Holy Family University (2010)
• Graduate Assistant Coach, Georgia Tech (2008-10)
Competitive Experience
• Park University (2004-08)
• Two-year starter
• Helped team to NAIA Sweet 16 as a junior
Education
• B.S., Business Administration, Park University (2008)
• B.S., Sports Administration, Georgia State University (2010)
At Cornell
Donovan Williams, who served as an assistant coach at Princeton alongside Cornell head coach Brian Earl, joined the Big Red men’s basketball coaching staff in May of 2016.
In his young career, Williams has already worked under some of the top coaches in the country - Princeton’s Mitch Henderson, Lafayette’s Fran O’Hanlon and former Georgia Tech head man Paul Hewitt. His history of working at high-academic schools with big basketball expectations fits in perfectly with the Big Red.
In just three seasons, Williams and the Big Red have developed one of the most efficient offenses in the Ivy League - reducing its turnovers and getting higher percentage shots. Matt Morgan developed into one of the top guards in the country, ranking among the nation's leading scorers and pacing the Ancient Eight in that category all four seasons. Cornell improved four games in the win column in year two, culminating in the program's first-ever bid to the Ivy League Men's Basketball Tournament. It bettered that record by three games in 2019 en route to a bid to the CIT Postseason Tournament and the program's first .500 conference season since 2010.
Prior to Cornell
Williams spent the 2015-16 season at Princeton, helping the Tigers to a 22-7 campaign that included a bid to the NIT. The 22 wins were the most by a Princeton squad since 2011, and its 12-2 record in Ivy League play was good for second place. The Tigers led the league in scoring offense and 3-point field goals made.
Prior to his stay in Princeton, Williams was on the Lafayette bench for five seasons, helping the Leopards make the 2015 NCAA Tournament. In his five seasons, the Leopards reached the Patriot League Championship game three times and advanced to the semifinals four times.
He was involved in player development, working with both perimeter and post players, while including on-court coaching, recruiting, opponent scouting and game preparation among his duties. During his five years in Easton, Lafayette earned four first-team All-Patriot League honorees, among them Jared Mintz (2011), Ryan Willen (2012), Tony Johnson (2013) and Dan Trist (2015), along with 2015 Patriot League Tournament MVP Nick Lindner. Eight players over his five seasons were named first-, second- or third-team All-Patriot League.
Williams spent two seasons on the sidelines at Georgia Tech as a graduate assistant, helping the team improve from a 12-19 record in his first season to a 23-13 record in his second, earning an at-large NCAA Tournament bid and a first-round win over Oklahoma State with a team that included NBA players Derrick Favors and Iman Shumpert.
He spent the 2010 offseason at Holy Family University under John O’Connor, who was an assistant with Williams under Hewitt at Georgia Tech, before joining the staff at Lafayette for the 2010-11 campaign.
Playing Career
A 2008 graduate of Park University, Williams was a two-year starter, helping the team to the Round of 16 as a junior during a 25-7 season. He played in 119 games in his four seasons, piling up 487 points, 222 rebounds, 129 assists and 91 steals while hitting 59 3-pointers.
Williams was an all-city and all-region selection at Spencer HS, averaging 14.0 points as a senior.
Personal
Williams comes from a coaching family, as his father George is the head coach at Columbus HS and his older brother Pershin is an assistant coach at Columbus State in his hometown of Columbus, Ga.
After completing his degree in business administration, he earned his master’s degree in sports administration from Georgia State in 2010 while coaching at Georgia Tech.
Williams and his wife, Erica (Sheppard), reside in Ithaca. The couple has an infant daughter, Olivia.
* Updated April 2019
