By Harry Minium
NORFOLK, Va. – Few college basketball players or coaches ever get to participate in a Final Four. After all, only four of the 316 Division I teams make it each season.
You’re lucky if you get to the Big Dance once. You’re in rarefied air if you go a second time and even more so, when your team wins a national title.
Former Old Dominion guard Drew Williamson has been there twice – in 2023 as an assistant coach at Florida Atlantic and then again earlier this spring, when Michigan got to the national championship game in Indianapolis.
The Owls lost to San Diego State in the 2023 semifinals. The Wolverines did much better, beating UConn, 69-63, in the final to win the national championship.
Williamson, 41, says he didn’t take a minute at either Final Four for granted.
“Whether you play or coach college basketball, you always look forward to and remember March Madness. And you look forward to watching One Shining Moment,” Williamson said of the emotional video with tournament highlights that CBS produces and plays minutes after the championship game. “The surreal thing is to watch One Shining Moment from the stage. Outside of the game, that was the coolest moment of all, sharing it with family and friends and the team. As a coach, you go to the Final Four, you go to all those coaching conventions and you kind of look out there and say 'man, I would love to coach in the Final Four one day.’ To have the opportunity to do it twice, you don't take it for granted."
A native of Burlington, North Carolina, Williamson was a football and basketball star at Hugh Cummings High School who, interestingly, was named for former Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Drew Pearson.
“I’m a Cowboys fan,” he said with a laugh. “Guess I didn’t have a choice.”
A quarterback at Cummings, he threw 115 touchdowns and led his school to two state football titles.
But his favorite sport was always basketball – he also led Cummings to a state basketball title and was named North Carolina’s Player of the Year.
While still a senior, he signed with North Carolina. He was all set to play for the Tar Heels when UNC changed coaches. He was recruited by Matt Doherty, who was let go and was replaced by Roy Williams.
“When Roy came in, I’m not sure he was aware who Drew was,” said Blaine Taylor, who coached Williamson at ODU. “I knew I would sure sleep well at night with this guy running my team. Drew had this magnetism about him. He was a winner.”
Williamson was released from his obligation to UNC and enrolled at ODU, with Roy Williams’ blessing, and was a four-year starter at point guard during one of the University’s most successful four-year stretches. The Monarchs twice went to the NCAA Tournament and to the Final Four of the National Invitation Tournament.
The Monarchs went 93-37 when Williamson was on the team, beating Virginia Tech twice, Georgia, No. 8 Georgetown and TCU and VCU, 73-66, in the 2005 CAA championship game.
Williamson played in all 130 ODU games in his four seasons.
“He was always available,” said Taylor, now an athletic development officer for major gifts for the Old Dominion Athletic Foundation. “He didn’t miss games. Drew just suited up, showed up and won.”
And showed as a player that one day he would become a coach.
“We didn’t lose to JMU very often, but I remember we lost to them and it was a bad loss,” Taylor said. “Drew goes to the back of the bus and has a players-only meeting. He didn’t let the guys listen to music. He didn’t let them relax. He got their attention. He told them, ‘This isn’t going to happen on my watch.’ He loved to compete and loved to win.”
After graduating from ODU, Williamson played overseas for a few years in Germany before returning to spend two years as director of basketball operations for ODU.
In 2013, he was hired by Virginia State Head Coach Lonnie Blow to coach at the Division II CIAA school.
He coached seven seasons at Virginia State and the Trojans twice won CIAA championships and went to four Division II NCAA Tournaments.
Then-FAU coach Dusty May hired him away from Virginia State in 2021 and the Owls won 79 games in three seasons and went to the 2023 Final Four.
When May was hired to replace Juwan Howard at Michigan in 2024, he took Williamson with him.
“Dusty saw a lot in Drew,” Taylor said. “He kept Drew in his pocket when he went to Michigan and that speaks volumes to me.”
May and his staff have been particularly adept at working the transfer portal at both FAU and Michigan – the Wolverines became the first national championship team to win with transfers at every starting position.
And with the portal opening right after the Final Four, there was precious little time to celebrate.
“We got back to the locker room at 12:01 and the portal had just opened,” Williamson said. “We won on a Monday. The next day we were making phone calls to see who we can bring in for a visit. It’s a little unique because you don’t get to celebrate the championship. We had to come home and immediately rebuild our roster because expectations certainly will not go down.”
Williamson says he still loves ODU and watches as many games as he can.
He met Monarch Head Coach Mike Jones a decade ago and the two have become friends. They text often.
“I don’t get back to ODU as much as I would like,” Williamson said. "I stopped by last year because we had a few guys play in the PIT. I sat down with Blaine and saw Mike Jones and the guys. I will always root for ODU. It will always be my school.”
Jones said he met Williamson while coaching at DeMatha High School in Maryland.
“We knew about each other and wound up connecting,” he said. “I’ve always thought very highly of him. He will often text me after a good win. He’s been amazing. I can’t say how much I appreciate Drew and his support. He’s been so supportive of our program.”
Taylor and Williamson remain especially close.
“Blaine will always be heavily involved in my life,” Williamson said. “He’s still my mentor. Whenever I have a decision to make, I always call him. I tell Blaine all the time that he’s the one person who gave me two second chances. They recruited me out of high school really hard. When I decided to leave North Carolina, Blaine gave me a second chance. I was playing overseas and not sure I wanted to do that anymore and he gave me a chance to coach. After 16 years, I’m still coaching and had an opportunity to win a national championship.”
Williamson met his wife, Lauren, during his junior year at ODU and they have a 13-year-old son, Jaden, and a 12-year-old daughter, Avery. He says his family is happy in Ann Arbor.
“I work for a great head coach who understands the dynamics of working hard. He allows me to be a coach on the floor, to have a voice, and I assume it’s not the same everywhere.
“I love what I’m doing and the people I work with. Michigan is such a great place.”
Williamson said he hopes when he eventually leaves Michigan, he will do so to become a head coach.
“An opportunity to be an assistant coach somewhere else would be a lateral move, unless it made sense to get me closer to home,” he said. “I feel like becoming a head coach should be the next step for my career. I feel like I’m ready to make the next step and waiting for someone to give me that chance.”
Minium is ODU's Senior Executive Writer for Athletics. Contact him at hminium@odu.edu or follow him on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram
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