Ray Williams enters his fifth season as the men’s and women’s sprints, hurdles and relays coach at Texas State.
In 2020, he coached one of Texas State’s strongest events when all six hurdlers posted career-best times and advanced to the finals of the 60-meter hurdles at the Sun Belt Conference Indoor Championships. Javlyn Cameron and Ariana Ealy-Pulido earned All-Sun Belt honors with second and third-place finishes, respectively, in the women’s race.
Williams coached Tramesha Hardy to the NCAA West Regional in the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes. She won seven Sun Belt Championships and earned 13 All-Sun Belt Conference selections during her career.
In 2019, Hardy captured three Sun Belt titles and was named the Sun Belt’s Indoor and Outdoor Most Outstanding Track Performer after finishing as the Top Scorer at both championships. Texas State hoisted two Sun Belt Conference championships with the women winning their third straight indoor title and the men winning the outdoor championship.
In the 2018 season, the men’s 4x100m relay team went on to earn All-American Honorable Mention honors at the NCAA Division I Outdoor Championships. The foursome ran a 39.81, the second-fastest time in Bobcat history. Also qualifying for the NCAA West Preliminary meet was Chris Green, Sydni Willis, and Smith.
During his first season with the Bobcats, Williams saw his athletes sweep the 60m hurdles at the Sun Belt Conference Indoor Championships and finish second, third, fourth, and sixth at the Outdoor Championships. In the indoor campaign, Antonisha Stewart twice broke her school record, and Kaylee Krenek recorded a top 10 program mark. The men’s 4x100m relay team captured the Sun Belt Conference title and went on to break the school record at the NCAA West Preliminary meet with a time of 39.76. Hurdlers Chris Green, Stewart, and Willis also qualified for the NCAA West Preliminary meet during the outdoor season.
Before coming to Texas State, Williams was the head coach for cross country/track and field at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania. During his five seasons at Lincoln, he promoted an environment of academic excellence that saw both the men’s and women’s teams see their GPAs rise each year. During his tenure, the Lions featured six CIAA Conference champions, seven All-CIAA cross country runners, and earned USTFCCCA All-Academic Team award in 2016.
In the 2014-15 school year, Williams served as the sprints and hurdles coach at the University of Mississippi. In his short tenure with the Rebels, six of his athletes were USTFCCCA All-Academic selections, and four earned NCAA All-American honors.
From 2004-10 Williams was the sprints, hurdles, and jumps coach for Grand Valley State University located in Allendale, Michigan. He developed 99 USTFCCCA All-Academic athletes, 55 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Champions, 25 NCAA Division II All-Americans, 70 NCAA qualifiers, 21 school records, one USATF Junior National qualifier, and one Canadian Athletics finalist during his time with the program.
The final five years at GVSU saw the women’s track and field team finish in the top eight at each NCAA indoor and outdoor championship meet, including back-to-back runner-up finishes in 2009 and 2010 at the indoor championships. The men’s squad touted top eight finishes times during that span as well.
Williams also had coaching stops at Marquette (2002-04), Detroit-Mercy (2001-02), Western Michigan (2000-01), and the University of Chicago (1997-00).
Williams has a daughter Micah, two sons, Daniel and Kamran, and is married to Danyual.
