HEAD COACH:
Diane Williams
Office: (585) 389-2190
E-mail: dmwillia@naz.edu

Now in her seventh season as Nazareth's women's basketball coach, Diane Williams hopes to direct the Golden Flyers back toward the winning path in 2004-05.

The Golden Flyers' string of 11 straight winning seasons was interrupted in 2003-04 as Nazareth finished 9-15. Despite that blip, the Golden Flyers have prospered under the guidance of Williams, who has posted a record of 89-66 with four ECAC Tournament berths.

Nazareth finished 15-11 in Williams' first season (1998-99) and followed that up with records of 19-9 and 18-9 with each season culminating in trips to the NYSWCAA and ECAC Tournaments. The 2000-01 season also was highlighted by the Golden Flyers' first-ever JPMorgan Chase Tournament title.

A native of Eastchester, N.Y., Williams is a 1986 graduate of SUNY Geneseo, where she excelled in basketball and softball. For the basketball team, she was the Knights' Most Valuable Player for two seasons and was a two-time All-Greater Rochester selection by the Democrat and Chronicle. She was the recipient of the Louise Kuhl Award as Geneseo's Female Athlete of the Year for '86-87 and was inducted into Geneseo's Athletic Hall of Fame in 1996.

Williams earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from Geneseo and a Master's degree in Recreation from SUNY Cortland. She served as an assistant coach at Geneseo for one season, then moved on to Cortland, where she assisted for two seasons. Her most recent coaching assignments, prior to Nazareth, were as an assistant at RIT in 1996-97 and at the University of Rochester in 1997-98. At UR, Williams also served as Game Management Coordinator.

Williams has additional experience as a Chemical Dependency Counselor and Recreation Therapist at Parkridge Hospital in Rochester and as an Athletic Supervisor for the Department of Recreation in Virginia Beach, Va. She also has been active as a certified official for high school soccer and basketball.

Williams hopes to continue to build upon the winning tradition that was established long ago at Nazareth in women's basketball. The Golden Flyers have posted winning records in 20 of the last 23 seasons and have surpassed 20 victories four times. Nazareth also has made six NCAA Tournament appearances.

In addition to her duties as head coach, Williams teaches physical education classes and assists with game management operations during the fall and spring seasons.