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Former 'Nova and GA standout Alvin Williams ready to take reins at Shipley

06/25/2021, 10:00am EDT
By Kevin Cooney

Kevin Cooney (@KevinCooney)
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The COVID-19 pandemic changed a lot of things for a lot of different people. For Alvin Williams, it helped bring him back to the grassroots of the sport that he loved.

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After spending the last few years as a studio analyst, Alvin Williams is taking on his first varsity head coaching gig with Shipley. (Image: Shipley School)

“Being bored at home – that played a part in it as well,” Williams recalled in a phone conversation last month. “Getting time to reflect makes you want to follow your passion. And I had a passion to work with younger players and to be able to spread the knowledge that I had picked up in the game.”

The knowledge which Williams will share to those he is now in charge of as head coach at the Shipley School, which was announced last month. The former Villanova and Germantown Academy standout, who played 10 season in the NBA and eight with the Toronto Raptors, will be in charge of his first bench as a varsity head coach this fall.

He'll be taking over a program that went 15-12 (5-5 Friends League) in its last full season of play, and made it to the FSL semi-finals before losing to powerhouse Westtown. Shipley was only able to play six games last season, though they finished with a 4-2 record.

“I view this as my opportunity to give back to the game,” Williams said. “I’m looking forward to it.”

Williams had been working as a studio analyst for the Canada-based Rogers SportsNet for the past few years – doing his work remotely via Zoom during the pandemic from the region. His last show was in early April as Toronto’s season – being played in Tampa – was careening off the rails after missing the playoffs.

“I enjoyed multiple things and developing multiple resources,” Williams said. “It was a completely different experience. But that’s (the) intention because different experiences lead to more knowledge and a better grasp on different things around us.”

One of the biggest influences on Williams was Jim Fenerty, who coached him at Germantown Academy and who passed away shortly after this interview was conducted. It was Williams who was Fenerty’s most celebrated player over his long and illustrated career. When asked how Fenerty influenced his coaching style, Williams – who has served as an assistant with at GA at one point – was able to cut deeper than just x’s and o’s.

“I saw how he conducted himself,” Williams said. “When I was getting recruited, it never distracted him. He coached all of the guys and he made sure of that. He was the leader of that group. He would say that GA started with me, but I knew he was joking around because he was the one leading our team. He wasn’t just coaching one person, he developed a program and he made everyone in the program feel important. The times are much different now, but he did a great job adjusting to that.”

Williams already had a celebrated place in the history of scholastic basketball in Philadelphia as part of one of the best years in city history – the 1993 Philadelphia Daily News All-City first squad. That year saw Williams joined on the first team by national player of the year Gratz’s Rasheed Wallace (North Carolina, 17 years in NBA, four All-Star Games, 2004 world champion), Roman’s Marc Jackson (VCU/Temple, seven NBA seasons), Franklin Learning Center’s Tyrone Weeks (played at UMass under John Calipari) and Olney’s Jason Lawson (a teammate of Williams' at Villanova, a former Big East defensive player of the year who is now coaching at Olney Charter.)   

One thing that Williams understands is that the world of basketball has changed since his high school days in the early 1990s with the outside influences that are in play. What Williams hopes to do at Shipley is return some of the joy back to the game.

“Basketball and sports was something we did for fun,” Williams said. “Really, our parents wouldn’t know if we were good or not until they went to games and saw it. I love having the involvement and I want to make sure our guys get the support they need across the board, maybe in different angles.

“There is so much more involvement and it’s become more of a business with more people involved. But I want to be the kids' way of enjoying the game and enjoying everything about the game because that is so important.”


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