UCSB Basketball Coach Out

Bob Williams’s contract as head men’s basketball coach at UCSB will not be renewed, it was announced on Thursday, March 9.

“Public speculation and the potential impact to our men’s basketball team members have prompted me to take make this announcement now,” John McCutcheon, UCSB director of athletics, said in a statement.

McCutcheon, attending the Big West Tournament in Anaheim, said he was not able to meet in person with Williams, whose contract runs out in August.

“It was an honor to coach these young men,” Williams said in a text comment, “and I have totally enjoyed my 19 years at UCSB.”

Williams, 63, compiled a record of 313 wins and 260 losses (.546 winning percentage) in 19 seasons with the Gauchos. They averaged almost 20 wins a season from 2013-14 to 2015-16, but they ended the 2016-17 season with a record of 6-22, the most losses in school history. They finished last in the Big West (4-12), and for the first time in Williams’s tenure, they failed to qualify for the conference tournament.

Williams coached the Gauchos to three Big West championships, advancing them to the NCAA tournament, where they lost to Arizona in 2002, Ohio State in 2010, and Florida in 2011.