Former Georgia State basketball player and assistant coach Travis Williams was named Head Basketball Coach at Fort Valley State on Wednesday, June 16.

Williams, 31, becomes the 14th head coach in Ft. Valley history and inherits a 14-15 team from 2003-04.

He was one of four finalists and selected by President Kofi Lomotey and Athletics Director Gwendolyn Reeves over Andre Williams (head coach of Voorhees College), Harold Ellis (head coach of WBA's Rome Gladiators) and Willie Booker. An earlier candidate in the hiring process was NBA Hall of Famer Nate Archilbald.

Williams is currently coaching in the World Basketball Association with Peachtree City's team and spent last season at Chicago State. Travis had coached at Georgia State for four seasons before that and was part of the 29-5 team that advanced to the Final 32.

Travis is a native of Tifton, Ga., and led his Tift County High team to a 19-9 record and berth in the AAAA Final Four. At Georgia State, Travis was a 1,000-point scorer in a 105-game career from 1992-96.

Williams, who earned Academic All-Conference honors at Georgia State, earned his bachelor's degree in business management. He later earned his master's at State in Sports Management. He coached under "Lefty" Driesell for four seasons. He is a member of the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC).

Travis had also served an internship with the NFL Players Association in Washington, D.C.

"Travis Williams will not ask his players to do anything he hasn't done," Ms. Reeves noted at the hiring press conference.