Buzz Williams jokes about lack of friends, relationship with players

Buzz Williams doesn’t have time for much outside of basketball. After Texas A&M‘s 91-79 loss to Michigan in the NCAA Tournament’s Round of 32 on Saturday, the Aggies head coach opened up on his lack of a social life away from the court.

“I have, like, four friends. My wife would be No. 1 on the list. I try not to count my children as friends. But I only have three other friends other than my wife,” Williams said. “I know this comes across the wrong way. I hired two of them because I’m so friendless.

“But I do think the transformational relationships, the true love in our program means no agenda. We haven’t had an agenda. We want to help them be better players, but we want our program to be total development.

“The development that these long-tenured guys have had has been life changing. And I do think they’re better players, and our teams have continued to improve. But someday they’re going to be old and can’t play, and someday I’m going to be old and can’t coach. But I think that the relationships were built on faith, hope and love is really cool.”

Williams and his seniors from this season will have plenty to reflect on when they’re old and gray. In the past four seasons, Texas A&M won 96 games and made three straight appearances in the NCAA Tournament.

Unfortunately for the Aggies, they were never able to advance to the second weekend of the tournament. Nonetheless, there’s more to life than wins and losses, and Williams knows it.

“Not to sound condescending maybe, but at some point I think you have to be accountable to those relationships, regardless of anything else, results, opinions,” Williams said. “I’m just very thankful and honored that, like I told [Henry Coleman], we’ll be friends forever, and now you can come to my house and we can watch a game and eat queso together. Nobody will say anything. Nobody will tweet about it. I’m honored.”

In the loss to Michigan on Saturday, Texas A&M led by as much as 10 points early in the second half. However, the Wolverines slowly chipped away at the Aggies’ lead and ultimately pulled away after Texas A&M couldn’t buy a basket in the final minutes of the game.

Texas A&M’s roster will look a lot different next season. There were eight seniors on the Aggies this season, including Texas A&M all-time leading scorer Wade Taylor IV. While Buzz Williams will miss coaching them, he’s happy to have a few new friends.