Former Northwest Mississippi Community College and Ole Miss basketball standout LaTaryl Williams was named the head women’s basketball coach at East Central Community College in January 2018.

He begins his fourth season at the helm of the Lady Warriors in 2021-22. Williams' first East Central team finished 18-6 overall and 9-5 in the South Division. The Lady Warriors advanced to the NJCAA Region 23 Tournament where they lost in the opening round. His 2020 squad finished 10-13 and failed to qualify for the postseason, while the 2021 team advanced to the third round of the NJCAA Region 23 Tournament.

Before coming to ECCC, Williams was the assistant women’s basketball coach at Holmes Community College in Goodman, where he helped lead the Lady Bulldogs to postseason appearances for four straight seasons, including the semifinals of the 2016 NJCAA Region 23 Tournament.

A native of Oxford, Williams was a standout player for Oxford High School, averaging 23 points, nine rebounds, and four steals per game as a senior and earning All-State honors from The (Jackson) Clarion-Ledger and the Class 4A North Most Valuable Player award from The Daily Journal in Tupelo. He also was the Most Valuable Defensive Player of the 1996 Mississippi High School All-Star Game.

He played two seasons for Northwest Mississippi Community College in Senatobia, before signing with the University of Mississippi. He helped lead Northwest to a 57-11 record over two years and an appearance in the 1998 NJCAA Final Four in Hutchinson, Kan. while earning MACJC All-State and NJCAA All-Region 23 and All-Tournament honors.

At Ole Miss, he was on the first Rebel basketball team to ever win an NCAA Tournament game in 1999 and on the 2000 team that played in the National Invitational Tournament.

Williams played professionally in South America and Europe for a decade before suffering a career-ending knee injury while playing for the Leicester Riders in the United Kingdom. While in the United Kingdom, he was an assistant coach for one season for the Leicester Riders and operated a Basketball Academy at Burleigh Community College in Loughborough for nearly four years.

He was named assistant women’s basketball coach at Holmes in July 2012.

Williams earned his bachelor’s degree in Leisure and Sports Management from the University of Mississippi and his master’s in Sports Coaching and Administration from the University of Northern Colorado.

He has a daughter, Lianna.