A Boone County native is making a name for himself coaching high school basketball.
Jeffery Scott Williamson, a Ramage native, has always been passionate about basketball. A graduate from Logan High School, Williamson was team captain of the 2005 Class AA State Champion Wildcats. However, Williamson did not see his future in playing basketball. He wanted to coach.
“I wasn’t delusional about my abilities,” Williamson said, “I knew that I wasn’t going to the NBA, and I knew I still wanted to be involved with the game after I was finished playing. Coaching is the best way to still be involved but also have a positive impact on young people.”
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Three years ago, Williamson was hired at the head coach of the Woodward High School basketball team in Oklahoma. His team made it to the regional first round of the state tournament during his first year as coach. The second year Williamson’s Boomers made it to the regional semi-finals. This past season, Williamson led his team to the regional finals. They were defeated but finished the season with a record of 22-4.
“They went 28-50 in the three years before I was hired.” Williamson said. “My record after three years was 48-28.”
Williamson’s work at Woodward earned him the Oklahoma Coaches Association’s Region One Coach of the Year Award. The award is voted on by his fellow coaches.
“I attribute my success to the really good players I had, and the really good assistant coaches I had.”
Williamson doesn’t let any grass grow under him. He started his new head coach position June first at Garden City High School in Kansas. Williamson, by virtue of his Region One Coach of the Year Award, is still eligible to be awarded the Oklahoma Coach of the Year Award. Yet, the coach is only thinking about getting back on the court with his new school.
“They’re a Class 6A school which is the highest classification in Kansas,” Williamson said. “We’re gonna try to get back to the state tournament. They hired me to turn it around.”
Williamson is the founder of Project Hoopie Inc. Its a non-profit that raises money for cancer research and to provide a free basketball camp for the youth of the area he calls home. The Hoopie Williamson Memorial Youth Basketball Camp has been conducted annually in Boone County. Named in honor of his father, a cancer victim, the camp is free to all participants and was in its eighth year before the COVID outbreak. The youth camp was canceled for 2020 and 2021. Williamson plans to bring the camp back to Boone County in 2022.
Project Hoopie has provided over a thousand basketballs and backpacks to area youths and served 3,000 free meals to the participants.
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