Willis Thomas Wilson Jr. (born March 22, 1960) is an American former basketball coach. He was most recently the head coach of the Texas A&M–Corpus Christi Islanders men's basketball team before retiring in March 2021. He previously served an assistant coach for the Memphis Tigers men's basketball team. Wilson was head men's basketball coach of at Rice University for 16 seasons, from 1992 to 2008.
| Biographical details | |
|---|---|
| Born | March 22, 1960 Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S. |
| Playing career | |
| 1978–1982 | Rice |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 1985–1986 | Rice (assistant) |
| 1986–1987 | Strake Jesuit Prep |
| 1987–1991 | Rice (assistant) |
| 1991–1992 | Stanford (assistant) |
| 1992–2008 | Rice |
| 2009–2011 | Memphis (assistant) |
| 2011–2021 | Texas A&M–Corpus Christi |
| Administrative career (AD unless noted) | |
| 2018 | Texas A&M–Corpus Christi (interim AD) |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 361–417 (college) |
| Tournaments | 1–3 (NIT) 6–4 (CIT) |
| Accomplishments and honors | |
| Awards | |
| Ben Jobe Award (2014) WAC Co-Coach of the Year (1999) | |
A former basketball letterwinner and 1982 graduate from Rice, Wilson served as an assistant at Rice in the 1980s and as an assistant at Stanford University in 1991. He became head coach at Rice in 1992. During his 16 years as head coach at Rice, Wilson became winningest coach in Rice basketball history.[1] After a 3–27 record in 2007–08, Rice athletic director Chris Del Conte announced on March 14, 2008, that Wilson would not be retained for the next season.[2][3]
On April 17, 2009, Wilson was hired by Memphis head coach Josh Pastner as an assistant.[4]