Buzz Williams explains his approach to coaching in the Big Ten vs. ACC, SEC

Over nearly two decades as a college head coach, Buzz Williams has been at four different programs in four different leagues. He’ll now be making it a fifth program in a fifth conference with him now at Maryland in the Big Ten.

Williams discussed his preparation to coach in the Big Ten with Jon Rothstein at CBS Sports. He said he hasn’t thought about it too much to this point as he has fully made this transition over the past three months.

“Yeah, I don’t know,” said Williams. “What I’ve tried to do is, you know, like anybody else, what are you trading your time for. And, in what this has become, you can argue that when I was hired, it was somewhat late. Is it somewhat late because Coach Willard and Maryland went to the Sweet 16? Yes. Is it a week later because I was at Texas A&M and we were advancing in the tournament? Like, there are variables that are good variables. But, as it relates to the portal and some of the things that transpired? By the time you interview, by the time you get there, by the time you have the press conference, by the time you do the initial thrust of things you have to do, and you realize, okay, we need to have a team, that takes time.”

Williams, with a career record of 373-228 (.621) over 18 seasons, has been a head coach at New Orleans when it was in the Sun Belt, Marquette in the Big East, Virginia Tech in the ACC, and most recently at Texas A&M in the SEC. College Park isn’t too far off from his other stops geographically, namely Blacksburg, but it is the first coaching job, after over three decades in college, for him in the Big Ten.

With that, Williams and his experienced staff have their work to do, with him admitting they’re not yet on schedule with this, to learn about the Big Ten. That starts with the fourteen programs who will have returning head coaches in the conference but also includes looking up what the other three new head coaches in the league besides himself, at Indiana, Iowa, and Minnesota, will be bringing to it. That then relates to how the Terrapins will play in his debut season with the program.

“What I’ve tried to do, as it relates to our league, is I don’t want to completely pass or delegate every part of the league to the staff and me not be a part. So, all of us are brand new to the Big Ten. And so, what we’ve tried to do is kind of divide up different things to study. I know there’s four new coaches, so study their previous team. But, how can we get familiar with at least the paradigm in which they play on both ends of the floor?” Williams thought. “And, with that, as we’re trying to discover this month what is best for our brand new roster, what is the best way for us to play is some of what we would learn from studying the Big Ten, would that make adjustments on how we want to play.”

“We’re probably behind, to be honest, on that understanding just because of the transition but, over the next six weeks, we’re going to have to give in an inordinate amount of time just to catch up and kind of have a base, foundational level of what that is,” said Williams.

Williams has a lot to still learn about his new team and program, let alone new home. However, if he’s not yet aware of what it is to be in the Big Ten, he’ll have five or six months to figure that out before the Terps begin conference play in December going into January.