William Small - Men's Basketball Coach - Murray State University Athletics

William Small

Title:
Assistant Coach
Email:
wsmall@murraystate.edu
Phone:
(270) 809-6746

William Small is in his fourth season with the Murray State program and brings a wealth of knowledge and experience of all aspects of college basketball.

Small has 19 years of experience in the college game as the native of Winona, Miss., has worked and had success at several stops.

He came to Murray State for the 2011-12 season after assisting at UTEP for one season.

In his four seasons with the Racers, Small has worked tirelessly in recruiting and coaching the MSU front court players. His efforts helped to produce 75 Murray State wins, including the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament championship in 2014.

Small was part of the Racers’ amazing 2011-12 season in which they spent 13 weeks in the national polls and rose as high as 10th, while becoming the last undefeated team at 23-0. The Racers produced their highest seed in 15 NCAA Tournament appearances (No. 6) and won the third game in the history of the program with a win over Colorado State. The Racers won a school and Ohio Valley Conference record 31 games and were the only team in NCAA D-I that went undefeated in road games at 13-0.

His relationship with Racers’ coach Steve Prohm and former MSU Coach Billy Kennedy dates back to their days at Southeastern Louisiana where they took a struggling program and turned it into a winner in the seasons from 2000-03. Small helped the Lions to a 44-18 record which included two Southland Conference titles and the school’s first trip to the NCAA Tournament.

Small also assisted at Western Kentucky (2004-05) when the Hilltoppers were 22-9 and played in the NIT. At WKU, Small recruited Courtney Lee, who was the Sun Belt Freshman of the Year eventual 2008 first round NBA draft pick by the Orlando Magic. Lee has also played for the Nets, Rockets, Celtics and Grizzlies.

Small’s coaching career started as a graduate assistant at Delta State (1994-95). His career also includes stops at: Cowley Community College (1995-97), Alabama-Huntsville (1997-98), UT Martin (1999-00), Southeastern Louisiana (2000-03), Western Kentucky (2003-05), Troy (2005-06), Tulane (2006-07), Georgia State (2007-10) and UTEP (2010-11).

Small was a student-athlete on the basketball team at Belhaven College in Jackson, Miss., where he earned a bachelor’s degree in business in 1993.

William and his wife is Paula have a daughter, Chiya (13).