Corey Williams Named Assistant Basketball Coach At Florida State

Oklahoma State assistant coach Corey Williams has been named an assistant basketball coach at Florida State by Head Coach Leonard Hamilton. Williams was recently hired by Oklahoma State - his alma mater - as an assistant coach and the Cowboy's chief recruiter. In accepting the position on Hamilton's staff, Williams moves closer to his roots in Macon, Ga., where both his and his wife's parents still reside.

Williams helped lead Oral Roberts to a pair NCAA Tournament appearances as a coach and led Oklahoma State to consecutive NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 appearances as a player. He was an assistant coach at Oral Roberts from 2000-07 and a player at Oklahoma State from 1989-92.

Williams, 37, was an assistant coach for eight seasons at Oral Roberts where he helped lead the Golden Eagles to an average of 18 wins a season including 20 or more wins in each of the last three seasons and appearances in the NCAA Tournament in each of the last two seasons. Oral Roberts finished with a 23-11 record and won the Mid-Continent Conference Tournament championship this past season. Among its 23 wins during the 2007 season was a victory over No. 3 Kansas on the road at Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence, Kan.

As Oral Roberts' chief recruiter during his tenure there, Williams is credited with assembling the recruiting classes that allowed the Golden Eagles to become one of the top teams in the nation. Among the players he is credited with recruiting are Caleb Green, A two-time All-American and the first three-time Player of the Year in Mid-Continent Conference and Ken Tutt the 2006 Mid-Continent Tournament Most Valuable Player. Williams helped attract a majority of the players that dotted the Golden Eagle's roster and the Mid-Continent All-League teams.

Williams played collegiately at Oklahoma State from 1989-92. He is the 13th all-time leading scorer in school history with 1,320 career points. Williams was drafted by both the Chicago Bulls of the NBA and the Kansas City Chiefs of the NFL. He was drafted by the despite the fact that he had not played football since junior high.

Williams chose basketball over football and spent two very productive years with the Bulls. While a member of the Bulls in 1992-93, Williams helped Chicago win its third straight NBA Championship. He also played with the Minnesota Timberwolves during his NBA career. He returned to Oklahoma State as a student assistant in 1994 and was a member of the Cowboys' staff during their 1994 Final Four season. He also played professionally overseas in Taiwan, from 1995-98.

"Corey Williams is an outstanding person who will relate to our players extremely well," said Hamilton. "He has been part of a World Championship team in the NBA, a Final Four Team as a collegiate coach and has recruited and coached some outstanding college players. He will help our team and our players become better because of his knowledge of the game and his ability to help players improve. We are very excited to have him join our staff at Florida State."