Why Woodville basketball coach Lenny Williams made the move to coach at Ware County

In his six years as the boys basketball coach at Woodville-Tompkins, Lenny Williams built a program that earned the respect of coaches and teams throughout the state of Georgia.

Williams, who played high school ball at South Gwinnett High before moving on to Clarkson University in New York, has a no-nonsense approach to coaching — focusing on fundamentals and effort — and he consistently got both from his Wolverine squads.

In 2022, Williams led the Wolverines to a Cinderella run to the Class 2A Final Four, winning two games on the road for the best playoff finish in school history. He led Woodville to the playoffs in each of his six years at the helm, and the team finished in the Top 10 of the final state rankings by Sandysspiel.com each season. His teams won four region titles and racked up 123 wins in his time at Woodville, where he helped nine players earn college scholarships.

Last week, Williams announced he is taking the next step in his career as he was hired as the new boys basketball coach at Ware County High School, where he will teach physical education.

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"As a coach, you focus on everything around you, and I felt it was time to focus on myself," said Williams, who was named the Region 3-A Division I Coach of the Year this season, after leading Woodville to the state quarterfinals and a region title, finishing with a record of 20-10. "I've been a bit scatterbrained lately, and felt like I needed to shrink my tunnel. The opportunity came up at Ware County, where I have family nearby, and I think it's going to be a great fit."

Williams, who works as a teacher and athletic director at West Chatham Middle School, will finish out the school year in Savannah before making the move south to Ware County, a team that competes in Class 5A and finished with a 7-15 record last season.

"I'm proud of what we've built at Woodville. It's a program with no feeder programs and we didn't have transfers coming in. We did everything in house and I think it showed how good we really were. We showed resilience and became one of the best teams in Georgia," Williams said.

Guard Alfonzo Ross was the star for the Wolverines this season, averaging 24.8 points per game and earning a scholarship to play at the University of South Carolina at Beaufort. He said playing for Williams helped him achieve his goal of competing at the next level.

"Coach Lenny is really hard to play for, but it's a lot of fun at the same time -- he gives you the best of both worlds as a player," said Ross, who was an All-Greater Savannah first-team selection. "He can be tough on his players, but everything he does makes you better in the end. He's a great coach, but he's also a great guy you can talk to when you need help with things off the court. He taught me to go hard in practice every day, not just in games, and that's how you become your best. He's going to be a friend for life, we're really close."

Williams said the hardest part of leaving Savannah will be missing those relationships. He said the administration at Woodville-Tompkins and with the Savannah Chatham County School District have both been great to work for, and helped him develop as an educator and a man. And his players and coaching staff will always have a place in his heart.

"I'm going to miss those bonds you build throughout each season, but those are bonds that will never be broken," Williams said. "I've been to war with those guys and I still talk regularly with my old players like Preston Crisp, Bernard Pelote and Zion Powers. It's going to be the same way with the guys from this year's class -- they know I'm always just a phone call away."

Dennis Knight covers sports for the Savannah Morning News. Contact him at [email protected]. Twitter: @DennisKnightSMN

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Woodville's Lenny Williams takes basketball coaching job at Ware County