Former Cavs guard Mo Williams is named HC at Alabama State

Former Cleveland Cavaliers guard Mo Williams was recently named as the head men’s basketball coach at Alabama State, which is nice to see.

Former NBA and Cleveland Cavaliers guard Mo Williams had a very successful career in the Association.

Williams played four seasons with the Wine and Gold, and averaged 14.8 points, 4.6 assists and 2.8 rebounds in 30.9 minutes per game, according to Basketball Reference. Williams also made an All-Star appearance in the 2008-2009 campaign for the Cavs, and put up 17.8 points, 4.1 assists, 3.4 rebounds and 0.9 steals in that year.

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Overall, Williams played 14 seasons in the NBA with the Milwaukee Bucks, Utah Jazz, Los Angeles Clippers, Portland Trail Blazers, Minnesota Timberwolves and Charlotte Hornets.

Plus, he was on the Cleveland Cavaliers’ 2016 championship squad that came back from a 3-1 deficit against the Golden State Warriors, which included LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, Tristan Thompson, Kevin Love and others.

That, as you know, was against Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors, who during that 2015-16 season set the regular season wins record with 73, too.

Being a part of that incredible run for the Cavaliers was an amazing ending to quite a career in the Association for Williams, and since that point, he’s gotten the ball rolling in terms of his next step.

Williams has previously been an assistant coach for the last two seasons at Cal State Northridge, as was h/t Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor, who pointed out that Williams did so “under his old college coach Mark Gottfried.”

Williams, who played college basketball at Alabama, recently was named the new head coach for Alabama State’s men’s basketball program, per an announcement from the institution on Tuesday.

This was cool to see for the former Cavs guard, and perhaps his longtime NBA playing pedigree should be able to help Alabama State in terms of recruiting.

Somewhat along those lines, Jennifer Lynne Williams, Alabama State’s Director of Intercollegiate Athletics (and as was h/t Fedor), highlighted how Williams, who is a native of Mississippi and from the South, should play right into the area and be a natural fit.

"“We are excited about the direction of our men’s basketball program as we moved forward into this new era,” Williams said. “Mo Williams checked the boxes that we were looking for in the next head coach of Alabama State men’s basketball, and his passion and leadership speak volumes. He is no stranger to the South, having played high school basketball in Mississippi and college basketball at Alabama.”"

That announcement would also touch on how Williams seemingly helped the aforementioned Gottfried and the Cal State Northridge Matadors’ offense, in particular, be extremely high-powered the last two seasons.

"“During his time with the Matadors, the team lead the Big West in scoring in each of the last two seasons while the team has broken several school single-season records, including 3-point field goals made (243, 2019-20 season), least turnovers (364, 2019-20 season), field goals made (968, 2018-19 season) and blocked shots (154, 2018-19 season).”"

The announcement was would then essentially note how Williams will be introduced via press conference virtually, and Williams, for one, seems really excited to be the next head coach of the Hornets’ men’s basketball program.

I hope for the best for Alabama State and for Williams. He was a tremendous teammate and locker room presence, and especially in the days of LeBron’s first stint with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Williams was a really crucial piece for the Cavs as their second option offensively.

Throughout his NBA career, Williams had his share of huge games as a scorer, and was a gifted pick-and-roll ball-handler, too.

Go kill it for the Hornets, Mo! I’ll be rooting for ya.