Wednesday, March 25, 1998:
By MARC ERWIN
Enterprise sports editor
Bob Williams, the UC Davis men's basketball coach for the past eight seasons, has accepted an offer to become the UC Santa Barbara coach, a source within the UCD athletic department said Tuesday.
Williams, with a 158-76 record at UCD and 279-174 overall, reportedly flew to Santa Barbara this morning for a noon press conference to announce his hiring. The Associated Press also reported Tuesday night that a Santa Barbara television station said Williams would be hired.
He is replacing Jerry Pimm, the 15-year coach who resigned after the season following a player revolt. The Gauchos finished 7-19 overall and in last place in the Big West Conference's West Division.
The Aggies, meanwhile, just completed the finest season in school history, winning 31 games and the Division II national championship Saturday in Louisville, Ky.
According to the source, the last week has been a whirlwind for Williams. He was in Louisville for a week, returned home with the team early Monday morning and participated in a Hickey Gym ceremony that lasted until 1 a.m., then flew to Los Angeles for an interview with UCSB on Monday afternoon.
He flew to Santa Barbara today, returns to Davis tonight, then leaves for San Antonio on Friday to give a speech at the Final Four tournament, where he will receive his NABC Division II national coach of the year award.
UC Santa Barbara officials would not confirm Williams' hiring, or even that there was a press conference scheduled for today.
``I know Bob wanted to keep this quiet as long as possible so that it wouldn't detract from what the players accomplished,'' the source said.
The players and coaching staff met late Tuesday night at Williams' South Davis home, where Williams reportedly told everyone that he has accepted the job. Players were instructed not to speak with the media until this afternoon.
Williams came to UCD in 1990 following two years as the top assistant at Pepperdine. Prior to that, Williams coached at Division III Menlo College and Cabrillo Junior College.
He took over for Lonnie Williams, who had replaced the legendary Bob Hamilton the year before and went 11-16. Bob Williams reeled off a 20-win season in his first campaign.
The program suffered a couple of down years before really coming on strong the last four seasons.
In those four seasons, the Aggies have won four Northern California Athletic Conference titles, including two undefeated runs through the NCAC. Each year they won at least 20 games. And, of course, this year they won the national championship.
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