Williams Prepares for NCAA Finals

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) - Mark Williams absorbed everything he could from Nebraska's gymnastics dynasty. Never the star, he studied what Francis Allen and Jim Howard did to lead the Cornhuskers to an unprecedented five NCAA titles in a row.

A quarter century later, he's creating a dynasty of his own at Oklahoma.

``I probably was better at noticing what they were doing as coaches than maybe doing it myself,'' says Williams, who has led Oklahoma to three national championships in his first six seasons as coach.

With head-to-head wins against contenders Stanford, California and Ohio State already this season, his Sooners (21-0) enter this year's championships as the favorite to repeat. Qualifying rounds will be held Thursday, with the team title to be decided on Friday.

Williams Bio | 2006 NCAA Championships Central

Although he can't equal Allen's NCAA record five straight titles from 1979-83, Williams can oversee a fourth title in five years - the best span since Nebraska's run.

What's the key to Williams' success?

``He's a very good student of gymnastics,'' Allen says. ``Some guys aren't students. They're just here to compete in gymnastics and go through the motions. They really don't understand what gymnastics is all about.''

But Williams was different. Allen plucked him out of the Chicago suburb of LaGrange Park and brought him to Lincoln. Soon after, the Cornhuskers started dominating the sport. Jim Hartung led the way with consecutive all-around titles and Phil Cahoy won back-to-back titles on both the high bar and parallel bars.

Williams wasn't like Hartung and Cahoy, though.

``He was intense,'' Allen says.

He's still that way.

Jonathan Horton, the surprise American Cup winner who's favored to win the all-around this weekend, says young gymnasts are sometimes startled at first at how driven and focused Williams can be.

``I don't think he expects more than what you're capable of but I think he knows everyone's limit,'' says Horton, who scored a 9.5 on the vault to clinch the title for Oklahoma last year. ``Not everybody realizes their potential, and he sees it. And he knows how to push you to the highest potential.''

It started at Nebraska. Besides focusing on what he needed to improve, Allen remembers Williams learning things he'd never use in college that would only prove useful on the international scene.

``He paid a little more attention to everything,'' Allen says.

Williams built his coaching philosophy around bits of knowledge he took from Allen, Howard, high-school coach Paul Omi and others he encountered along the way.

When he was first hired as Oklahoma's coach, he would frequently call Allen to ask, ``What would you do?'' The two still talk by telephone every few weeks - maybe about gymnastics or maybe about their dogs.

But Williams doesn't fit in the same mold as Allen. Instead, he sees himself being more like Howard, Allen's longtime assistant who retired last June.

``Francis would come in and he'd get everybody excited and had the jokes and everything,'' Williams says. ``That's not my personality so much. But I saw the genius in what Francis was doing and then Jim Howard would be the guy who was the work behind the inspiration.''

Williams admits he can be demanding but says to a certain extent his gymnasts push themselves to perfection. At times, he has to be careful not to focus solely on gymnastics. For example, the coaches and gymnasts got together earlier this year to play football.

``If I have to be the hammer, I'll be the hammer,'' Williams says. ``When things are going well, I can often lighten things up a little bit but I'm not the jokester that Francis was by any means. They kind of look at me like I'm pretty corny most of the time.''

Instead, Williams has found his own formula that works. He's already got more NCAA titles than any active coach other than Allen.

``He's a winner,'' Horton says. ``If there's one thing I can say to describe him, he knows how to win. He knows how to push people beyond what they think their limit is.

``He frustrates you sometimes in the gym but in the end you realize he was right.''

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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