The road for Sue Williams into the USTFCCCA Coaches Hall of Fame started back before the days when Title IX was passed more than 50 years ago.
Williams was coaching tennis at Arkansas and then volleyball initially at UC Davis when she took up a challenge from the UCD administration in 1972 to transform cross country from a club activity to a varsity sport.
She already had a deep love for track & field and delivered immediately, amassing 50+ female students for a tryout in 1973. By 1975 – the first year the AIAW conducted national women’s cross country championships – Tena Anex of UCD finished national runner-up.
When the NCAA added women’s sports in 1981, Williams’ Aggies were more than ready, beginning a run of ten consecutive years of finishing top-10 at the NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships.
Williams was acknowledged after that run as the NCAA Division II Women’s Coach of the Decade following the first 10 years of women’s sports by the NCAA.
After Anex, more athletes succeeded under the watch of Williams. The most successful on a national basis was Patti Gray, who swept the 1982 NCAA DII 3000 and 5000 titles before a 10k crown in 1983. Williams also guided Teri Serrano (1982 long jump) and Suzy Jones (1996 indoor mile) to NCAA DII titles.
By the end of Williams’ illustrious coaching career in 2003, her women’s cross country teams advanced to the NCAA DII national championships every year from 1981 to 2002, when UCD moved to NCAA DI. Her teams were top-10 a total of 21 of a possible 22 times, with 10 of those finishes among the top-5.
Additional success followed Williams when she was named UCD’s head coach for men’s cross country in 1991, as the Aggies advanced to the NCAA DII Championships in 10 of the 12 years the program was under her direction, including three top-5 finishes.
Williams’ cross country squads amassed conference titles in the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) by the bunches – 20 of a possible 22 on the women’s side while the men had a run of nine straight.
“I never expected to coach this long,” Williams said in 2004. “I did so because UC Davis student-athletes are so great to work with. They like to work hard, they’re committed to achievement but they keep it all in perspective.”
While Williams’ teams were successful on the cross country trails and the track, her student-athletes excelled in the classroom as well. Her squads regularly checked in with GPAs that were among the highest on campus for intercollegiate teams, earning them UCD’s Marya Welch and Lysle Leach Award for the highest GPA more times than any other team.
When Williams retired from coaching following the 2003 cross country season, she continued as an educator. She served as Program Director of Physical Education at UCD from 1999 and earned the school’s James H. Meyer Distinguished Achievement Award for exceptional career achievement at UC Davis in 2003. She retired from the university in 2008.
“Sue has made extraordinary contributions to UC Davis, and specifically, the athletics and physical education programs, and I am extremely thankful for her service,” UC Davis Director of Athletics Greg Warzecka stated upon Williams’ resignation announcement. “Her achievements with the cross country teams are tremendous and not only helped make UC Davis one of the top Division II programs nationally, but one of the best programs at any level on the west coast.”
Williams was known as Sue Cumnock when she began her athletic journey. Born in Dallas, she grew up in Greenwood, Arkansas, and competed in track & field, basketball and tennis at Arkansas Tech. She earned her bachelor’s degree in physical education from Arkansas State in 1986, her master’s in physical education from Central Arkansas in 1975 and completed doctoral studies in education at Penn State in 1979. She became Sue Williams after marrying Keith Williams in 1977, and the couple has two sons, Seth and Casey, who went on to higher education at Barnard and Princeton.