Williams' world tour leads back to Asheville and unexpected coaching success
Mike GoreSpecial to the Citizen Times----PART I
Former UNC-Asheville standout and Harlem Globetrotter John Williams is now leading the Asheville Christian girls basketball team to state titles.
John Williams never dreamed about coaching high school girls’ basketball.
But he accepted an offer eight years ago to lead the program at Asheville Christian Academy, and things have worked out well for the Lions —and the Williams family.
John and his wife, Whitney, had plans to start a family, but they were accelerated in 2014.
While in France with the Globetrotters ready to head to Egypt, John talked to his wife, who was feeling sick at the time.
“She wasn’t feeling very well and wasn’t sure why,” said Williams. “I needed to come home and see her and try and see what was wrong. The Globetrotters were nice enough to tell me that it would be okay for me to go home and check on my wife. And if everything was OK, I would meet up with them in Egypt.”
The pyramids would have to wait. When John and Whitney went to the doctor, they found out the reason why she was sick. Whitney was pregnant.
“We wanted to start a family once I stopped playing. I was planning on one more year with the Globetrotters but once I found out Whitney was pregnant, I realized it was time to come home and take care of my family,” Williams said.
Coming home was wonderful for Williams but what would he do? John had been hosting his High Intensity Basketball Training clinics in the offseason when he wasn’t touring the world with the Globetrotters. During that time, he once dropped brochures off at Asheville Christian Academy and met athletic director Joe Johnson, who offered him a job.
“I wasn’t planning on taking it because I was getting ready to go back with the Globetrotters,” Williams said. “But then things changed. When I got back home, I called him up and luckily for me the job was still there.”
From the Archive in 2014:Williams comes home to coach Asheville Christian
Being a coach had never really been in the plans. He enjoyed a spectacular career at UNC Asheville as an undersized power forward with incredible jumping ability. He helped lead the Bulldogs to the 2008 Big South Conference regular-season title as a freshman and as a senior led Asheville to the 2011 Big South Tournament championship, a trip to the NCAA Tournament and a win over Little Rock in the First Four.
Later in that postseason, he was invited to the annual Slam Dunk Contest at the Final Four in Houston. Williams never missed a dunk but finished in second place. His work, however, did not go unnoticed and soon the Harlem Globetrotters were calling.
'Control what you can control'
The Asheville Christian girls basketball team gets ready to break a huddle during the 2021 state playoffs.
Williams had never thought about coaching high school basketball, let alone girls basketball.
But the lessons he learned at Asheville under veteran head coach Eddie Biedenbach came in handy when he went to the bench.
“I learned so much from Coach Biedenbach and maybe I didn’t appreciate it as much when I played but I sure appreciated it when I started coaching,” Williams said. “Coach Biedenbach used to say control what you can control. You can always have a good attitude and always give a great effort. You can always play hard on defense and keep your hands down when you’re defending. You can always box out when you rebound.
“Maybe you’ll have a bad shooting day or maybe you’ll go up against an opponent who is bigger and stronger but control what you can control,” he added. “If you control what you can control then you’ll be in a better position to win.”
He admitted coaching in high school demanded patience.
“Coaching girls is different than coaching guys but you need patience no matter who you’re coaching,” Williams said. “What I tried to teach my girls was that sometimes you’re going to have small failures but that’s part of the process of building a team. How you learn from those small failures is important to how you develop as a player.”
Williams steadily built the ACA program, improving with each season. The Lions reached the state title game in 2018 before falling to crosstown rival Carolina Day. In 2020, right before the pandemic, ACA reached another championship game. The Lions would play Concord Academy and would win a close game, 35-32.
Asheville Christian Academy held on for a 35-32 win over Concord First Assembly in the 2020 NCISAA 3A girls state basketball title game.
When a school wins a state championship, there’s usually months of celebrating and recognition. The pandemic ruined all of that for Williams’ first state title team.
“We played our state championship game a few weeks before the pandemic shut down everything. We were lucky to get a chance to play our state championship game as I know others weren’t so lucky,” he said. “But we couldn’t get together to celebrate the state championship due to the pandemic. We wanted to order rings for our team but no one was meeting at that time so that got delayed for several months. It was a little bittersweet. I was so proud of that team for winning a state title but they didn’t get to celebrate like most teams do.”
ACA got to the state championship game again in 2021 before losing to Concord Academy, 57-56. This winter, the Lions returned for the third straight year and won a dramatic overtime thriller against High Point Christian Academy, 48-44. It was an amazing championship for ACA as it won the title despite having only six players on its roster.
“Started the year with seven and then one of our best players tore her ACL and was lost for the year,” said Williams.
And the lessons that Williams had been drilling into his team from his first year at ACA really came through this past year.
“Everyone had to play with just six players and we learned to control what we can control,” said Williams. “Play defense hard every time down the floor. Have a good attitude and box out every time a shot goes up.
“We did those things all year and found a way to win another state title,” he lated added. “Joey and I had to get a little creative with six players but the team worked hard from the first day of practice to the state championship game.”
For the coach who never thought about being a girls basketball coach, that gives Coach Williams two state titles and two runner-up finishes in his eight years of coaching at ACA.
And he still gets advice from Biedenbach.
“I talk to Coach Biedenbach as much as I can,” said Williams. “I’ll tell him about some issue that we’ve had on the team and he’ll give me advice on how to handle certain situations. Or I’ll tell him what I did before talking to him and he’ll let me know if he thought I did the right thing or not.
“Coach B is a wise man and it’s great that I still get a chance to talk to him about not just basketball but life, as well,” he added.
Things have worked out for Williams since leaving France eight years ago. The family has two daughters now, a still-popular training camp business and two state championships.
What’s next?
“We’re already working on trying to win another state title in 2023,” said Williams. “But to do that we have to trust the process and do the little things that help you win.”
Mike GoreSpecial to the Citizen Times----PART I
Former UNC-Asheville standout and Harlem Globetrotter John Williams is now leading the Asheville Christian girls basketball team to state titles.
John Williams never dreamed about coaching high school girls’ basketball.
But he accepted an offer eight years ago to lead the program at Asheville Christian Academy, and things have worked out well for the Lions —and the Williams family.
John and his wife, Whitney, had plans to start a family, but they were accelerated in 2014.
While in France with the Globetrotters ready to head to Egypt, John talked to his wife, who was feeling sick at the time.
“She wasn’t feeling very well and wasn’t sure why,” said Williams. “I needed to come home and see her and try and see what was wrong. The Globetrotters were nice enough to tell me that it would be okay for me to go home and check on my wife. And if everything was OK, I would meet up with them in Egypt.”
The pyramids would have to wait. When John and Whitney went to the doctor, they found out the reason why she was sick. Whitney was pregnant.
“We wanted to start a family once I stopped playing. I was planning on one more year with the Globetrotters but once I found out Whitney was pregnant, I realized it was time to come home and take care of my family,” Williams said.
Coming home was wonderful for Williams but what would he do? John had been hosting his High Intensity Basketball Training clinics in the offseason when he wasn’t touring the world with the Globetrotters. During that time, he once dropped brochures off at Asheville Christian Academy and met athletic director Joe Johnson, who offered him a job.
“I wasn’t planning on taking it because I was getting ready to go back with the Globetrotters,” Williams said. “But then things changed. When I got back home, I called him up and luckily for me the job was still there.”
From the Archive in 2014:Williams comes home to coach Asheville Christian
Being a coach had never really been in the plans. He enjoyed a spectacular career at UNC Asheville as an undersized power forward with incredible jumping ability. He helped lead the Bulldogs to the 2008 Big South Conference regular-season title as a freshman and as a senior led Asheville to the 2011 Big South Tournament championship, a trip to the NCAA Tournament and a win over Little Rock in the First Four.
Later in that postseason, he was invited to the annual Slam Dunk Contest at the Final Four in Houston. Williams never missed a dunk but finished in second place. His work, however, did not go unnoticed and soon the Harlem Globetrotters were calling.
'Control what you can control'
The Asheville Christian girls basketball team gets ready to break a huddle during the 2021 state playoffs.
Williams had never thought about coaching high school basketball, let alone girls basketball.
But the lessons he learned at Asheville under veteran head coach Eddie Biedenbach came in handy when he went to the bench.
“I learned so much from Coach Biedenbach and maybe I didn’t appreciate it as much when I played but I sure appreciated it when I started coaching,” Williams said. “Coach Biedenbach used to say control what you can control. You can always have a good attitude and always give a great effort. You can always play hard on defense and keep your hands down when you’re defending. You can always box out when you rebound.
“Maybe you’ll have a bad shooting day or maybe you’ll go up against an opponent who is bigger and stronger but control what you can control,” he added. “If you control what you can control then you’ll be in a better position to win.”
He admitted coaching in high school demanded patience.
“Coaching girls is different than coaching guys but you need patience no matter who you’re coaching,” Williams said. “What I tried to teach my girls was that sometimes you’re going to have small failures but that’s part of the process of building a team. How you learn from those small failures is important to how you develop as a player.”
Williams steadily built the ACA program, improving with each season. The Lions reached the state title game in 2018 before falling to crosstown rival Carolina Day. In 2020, right before the pandemic, ACA reached another championship game. The Lions would play Concord Academy and would win a close game, 35-32.
Asheville Christian Academy held on for a 35-32 win over Concord First Assembly in the 2020 NCISAA 3A girls state basketball title game.
When a school wins a state championship, there’s usually months of celebrating and recognition. The pandemic ruined all of that for Williams’ first state title team.
“We played our state championship game a few weeks before the pandemic shut down everything. We were lucky to get a chance to play our state championship game as I know others weren’t so lucky,” he said. “But we couldn’t get together to celebrate the state championship due to the pandemic. We wanted to order rings for our team but no one was meeting at that time so that got delayed for several months. It was a little bittersweet. I was so proud of that team for winning a state title but they didn’t get to celebrate like most teams do.”
ACA got to the state championship game again in 2021 before losing to Concord Academy, 57-56. This winter, the Lions returned for the third straight year and won a dramatic overtime thriller against High Point Christian Academy, 48-44. It was an amazing championship for ACA as it won the title despite having only six players on its roster.
“Started the year with seven and then one of our best players tore her ACL and was lost for the year,” said Williams.
And the lessons that Williams had been drilling into his team from his first year at ACA really came through this past year.
“Everyone had to play with just six players and we learned to control what we can control,” said Williams. “Play defense hard every time down the floor. Have a good attitude and box out every time a shot goes up.
“We did those things all year and found a way to win another state title,” he lated added. “Joey and I had to get a little creative with six players but the team worked hard from the first day of practice to the state championship game.”
For the coach who never thought about being a girls basketball coach, that gives Coach Williams two state titles and two runner-up finishes in his eight years of coaching at ACA.
And he still gets advice from Biedenbach.
“I talk to Coach Biedenbach as much as I can,” said Williams. “I’ll tell him about some issue that we’ve had on the team and he’ll give me advice on how to handle certain situations. Or I’ll tell him what I did before talking to him and he’ll let me know if he thought I did the right thing or not.
“Coach B is a wise man and it’s great that I still get a chance to talk to him about not just basketball but life, as well,” he added.
Things have worked out for Williams since leaving France eight years ago. The family has two daughters now, a still-popular training camp business and two state championships.
What’s next?
“We’re already working on trying to win another state title in 2023,” said Williams. “But to do that we have to trust the process and do the little things that help you win.”
