Donovan Williams is entering his first season as an Assistant Coach of the ORU men's basketball program.
The past two seasons, Williams served as Director of Recruiting at the University of South Florida, where he helped guide the Bulls to a school-record 25 wins and the 2024 American Athletic Conference Regular Season Championship. His recruiting efforts contributed to multiple All-AAC selections, including Chris Youngblood (1st Team, '24), Selton Miguel (2nd Team, '24), and rookie standouts Jayden Reid ('24) and CJ Brown ('25).
Prior to USF, Williams spent a season at Presbyterian College as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator, following a highly successful three-year run at Longwood University. There, he helped the program reach new heights—including a historic 2022 NCAA Tournament appearance, Big South Regular Season and Tournament Championships, and a 2021 College Basketball Invitational (CBI) bid. The Lancers recorded their most Big South wins in program history under his watch. He mentored standout players such as Justin Hill, Isaiah Wilkins, and Juan Munoz.
In 2020, Silver Waves Media named Williams one of the 50 most impactful low-major coaches nationally—one of just two honorees from the Big South Conference.
Williams also held coaching roles at Cornell University, where he was instrumental in the program's return to postseason play with a 2019 CIT appearance and helped develop Matt Morgan, the Ivy League's second all-time leading scorer. His previous stint at Princeton included a 2016 NIT bid and multiple All-Ivy honorees, while his five years at Lafayette College saw the team earn an NCAA Tournament berth in 2015 and multiple Patriot League accolades.
He began his career as a graduate assistant at Georgia Tech, where he contributed to the Yellow Jackets' 2010 NCAA Tournament run and ACC Tournament Finals appearance.
A native of Columbus, Georgia, Williams played four years of college basketball at Park University, where he served as a senior captain and earned his degree in Business Administration with a minor in Economics. He later received a master's in Sports Administration from Georgia State University in 2010. He played high school basketball for his father, George Williams, a legendary high school coach in Georgia with more than 40 years of success.
Donovan and his wife, Erica, have two daughters, Olivia and Skylar.
