Kamari Williams

Kamari Williams was the Rookie of the Year in the Little East in 2004 on a team that won 11 games. He was first-team all league as a sophomore in 2005. As a senior he came off the bench, playing 13 minutes per game for a team that won 27 games.

I was Kamari's third coach in three years when I took over Rhode Island College in 2005. Kamari was first-team all league the year before I arrived. While Rhode Island College had never been past the Little East semifinals, I was lucky enough to take over a very talented team. I didn't know it at the time, but I took over the best team in the league that first year.

One of the first decisions I made when practice started was to switch up the backcourt. Kamari had been the point guard and was used to having the ball in his hands, but to me he was more of a natural scorer than a point guard. We had another really talented guard, Kinsey Durgin, who was jet quick and more of a distributor than Kamari. I felt like Kinsey was a better fit at the point, so I made the change. That first year, Kinsey was our point guard and Kamari was our two guard.

We had a pretty good first year, winning 19 games as I tried to figure out what the heck I was doing. Kamari started that year and was a good player, but didn't have an all-league type year. Kinsey Durgin was named first team all-league that year.

I'll never forget my first loss ever as a head coach. It was our second game of the year, and we were playing Wheaton in the finals of their tournament. We had a 7-point lead in the last two minutes, a game we absolutely should have closed out. We blew the lead. And I had Kamari on the bench in those last two minutes, playing Kinsey and another guard who I thought were playing better.

Kyle Smith (a college teammate of mine and now the head coach at Washington State) came to the game while on a recruiting trip in New England. We talked after the game, and we went over the final minutes. I told him we worked on time and score every day. I couldn't believe we blew that lead. He said our guards didn't look comfortable with the ball, and I told him that Kamari had been the point guard the year before, but I had him on the bench. I told him Kamari hadn't been playing great so I wasn't comfortable with him having the ball. And he said, "Yeah, but your team is. They are used to him having the ball. When he's in control, they feel like they are going to win."

When he's in control, they feel like they are going to win. That was one of the first lessons I learned as a head coach. It didn't really matter what I thought, as much as it mattered what the team thought. Kamari made his teammates feel like they were going to win. There was a comfort level within the team when Kamari had the ball. Kamari was a closer. The players knew that. I didn't. Lesson learned.

At the start of Kamari's senior year we knew we had a chance to be really good. We had almost the entire team back from the year before, and we added one big-time newcomer in Bobby Bailey. As we prepared for the start of the season, which would be an exhibition game at Iona College, Kamari got hurt. It was a brutal break for Kamari, as we went down to Iona and won that exhibition game, a huge moment in what would go on to be the greatest season in RIC basketball history. Kamari had to watch from the bench, cheering his teammates on instead of playing.

With Kamari hurt, a sophomore guard from the Bronx, Tirrell Hill, stepped up. He took Kamari's spot in the starting line-up for our first few games, and we got off to a great start. That team was loaded with great guards. Kinsey Durgin was back as our point guard, and he'd go on to be first-team all league for a second year in a row. Kamari had already been first team all-league. Tirrell would go on to be first team all-league as a junior and a senior. Bobby Bailey would be all-league three years in a row, and as a senior he would be the league player of the year. And Cam Stewart would never win an all-league award (probably because there weren't any left), but he would score 950 points in his career. So we had 6 first-team all league seasons, and 8 all-league seasons overall, in one backcourt. Our guards were pretty damn good.

So as the season moved on and we were playing well, Kamari continued to come off the bench. We played a lot of guys and Kamari was still playing a key role, but only for 10-15 minutes per game. Kamari wanted to play more, which was fine with me - all my guys wanted to play more, and I wanted it that way. We had many one on one conversations that year in the office, usually initiated by Kamari - in my second year, I still didn't realize the importance of one on one communication with my players. Kamari always handled himself properly, even if we disagreed. He never complained, we would talk about what he could do better, and talk about what the team needed to win. And he'd always say the same thing before he left. "I'm with you, Coach. You don't have to worry about me. I just want to win."

I knew it hurt him that he wasn't starting and playing a larger role. Of course it was. But he refused to put himself ahead of the team. And it was funny, because the narrative was such that people thought there was an issue between us. Former first-team all league player, now a back-up coming off the bench, not putting up the same numbers - they must not be getting along. I can see how people thought that, but it wasn't the case. And the reason we were cool, and it didn't impact our team, wasn't because of me. It was because of Kamari Williams. He used to come to me. I was still young as a head coach, and I hadn't really learned how much time I needed to spend off the court with my players, to really get to know them and how to coach them. I was just coaching my team, and we were rolling. But Kamari would come to me, and we'd have those conversations. "I'm with you, Coach. I just want to win."

I've always said one thing that made that team so special was that we had six seniors, but only two of them started. And all six of them were good enough to play - probably to start - on almost every team we played. Kinsey Durgin and Tony Pierlioni started most of the year. Brian Stanko, Amde Tegbaru, John Weir and Kamari Williams all came off the bench. Kamari was such a big part of why that team was special. A future hall-of-famer, a first-team all league player, a 1,200 point scorer was willing to sacrifice and come off the bench because it was best for the team. Even though he clearly wanted more, and probably deserved more based on his production and ability. It's pretty easy for everyone else to fall in line behind that.

Kamari was still a big factor for that team despite the fact that I was playing him less. He was a natural scorer, a playmaker with the ball in his hands, and someone who brought a sense of calm to the court. He wasn't perfect, for sure, and I probably focused too much on those things - he wasn't a great defender, and at times he'd pull up from Seekonk. But his teammates knew they could count on him. And what better connection is there to your teammates than that?

I can only imagine what other coaches in the league thought about him coming off the bench as a back-up when he had been first team all-league as a sophomore - like damn, how good is that team? I always tell my teams I don't really care who starts, but I care who finishes. It was pretty rare when our 5 starters were on the floor together to finish a game. And Kamari was a finisher. I'll never forget him draining deep 3s in front of the student section at Amherst in the Elite 8 as we mounted a furious comeback, in what would be his last college game. Our guys wanted Kamari on the floor with the game in the balance. When he's in control, we feel like we are going to win.

Kamari Williams taught me so much about the value of selflessness on any high-performing team. He taught me the about sacrifice, and the willingness to put your teammates first. We use that word, sacrifice, all the time, don't we? But what does it really look like? It looks like Kamari Williams as a senior. He taught me the importance of having people who you enjoy being around, the way his eyes lit up every time he walked into a gym. His approach never changed, his confidence never wavered. He taught me about the one on one time you need to spend with your players to truly get to know what they are all about, so you can coach them the right way. He taught me never to trust the popular narrative, to dig deeper and get to know the truth. He taught me so much about what being fully invested in your teammates really looks like.

I love the fact that Kamari went on to coach high school and AAU ball back in his hometown of Springfield. He was a kid who just wanted to ball, a natural who could light up a gym with his talent and his charisma. He never really came across like he was going to coach. But he belonged in a gym. I'm sure when he got home after he graduated he just walked into a gym somewhere in the fall because it was a part of him. And started making the kids better.

I'd see him at a summer event and we'd talk about some of his frustration with his players, saying "Coach, these kids just don't get it. They don't want to guard anyone, all they want to do is shoot." And I'd look at him funny, and we would just laugh out loud together. He'd talk to me about some of the lessons he learned from our program, and how it took a long time for them to have an impact, even on him. How he was fighting every day to teach his own lessons to the kids he was coaching, to try and get through to them sooner. We'd talk about his journey, and he'd thank me for not giving up on him. And I'd thank him for the exact same thing.

I'm not sure I coached Kamari Williams the right way to be honest. It was my first two years as a head coach, I made some tough decisions, but I don't know that I understood empathy or how to connect with each individual player. But Kamari bought in to what we were trying to do, even though personally he wasn't getting everything he wanted. He bought in because his teammates mattered to him, more than anything else. He believed in me when believing in me wasn't easy. He taught me what sacrifice actually looks like.

Kamari Williams was the Rookie of the Year, and a first-team all-league player in his first two years in college. As a senior, he came off the bench to help his team have the greatest season in school history. How many players could handle that situation, let alone thrive in it? I know Kamari Williams was so much more than a basketball player. But who Kamari Williams was as a person came through so much when you got to see him as a player.

I can only think how lucky those kids he coached from Springfield were to have Kamari in their lives. When he's in control, we feel like we are going to win. I know how lucky I am to have had him in mine.