Utah Valley University Athletics

Entering his 18th year of coaching at the helm of Utah Valley University wrestling, head coach Greg Williams has guided his Wolverines from a Division I Independent to a member of the Big 12 Conference during his tenure. Williams has also sent at least one Wolverine grappler to the NCAA Championships in each of the past 12 seasons. He has also coached five All-Americans during his career -- in senior 125-pounder Benjamin Kjar (placed fourth) in 2011, senior 133-pounder Jade Rauser (placed eighth) in 2016, sophomore heavyweight Tate Orndorff (NWCA First Team) in 2020, junior 125-pounder Taylor LaMont (placed fifth) in 2021, and senior 174-pounder Demetrius Romero in 2021 (placed sixth -- and took a program best six NCAA qualifiers to nationals in 2019.

Just this past season, Williams and the Wolverines continued to excel on the mat, as the veteran head coach crowned multiple All-Americans for the first time in program history. Taylor LaMont posted a fifth-place finish at the 2021 NCAA Championships at 125 pounds, while Demetrius Romero placed sixth at 174 pounds. Williams was also key in helping Romero become the program's inaugural two-time Big 12 Champion in the spring of 2021, as Romero won the second Big 12 Conference title of his career (this time at 174 pounds), and also record a program-record of six Wolverine grapplers gain podium finishes at the 2021 Big 12 Championships. He also helped send four NCAA qualifiers to the 2021 NCAA Championships in LaMont, Romero, and first time qualifiers Ty Smith (133) and Cameron Hunsaker (149), and Romero earn the program's highest national seed as Romero entered the 2021 NCAA Championships seeded second in his weight class. The UVU head man was also instrumental in helping a program-record of eight Wolverines earn NWCA Scholar All-American honors this past summer, as well as the team for posting the ninth-best team GPA on the NWCA's Division I Top 30 Scholar All-American Teams.

In the COVID-shortened 2019-20 season, Williams helped a trio of Wolverines qualify for nationals and heavyweight Tate Orndorff earn NWCA First Team All-American honors. He also helped five Wolverine grapplers earn podium finishes at the 2020 Big 12 Championships.

After spending nine seasons of competition as a member of the Western Wrestling Conference, Williams helped his team get into one of the most prestigious conferences in the nation in the Big 12 Conference in the summer of 2015. His Wolverines are one of eight wrestling affiliates to join the Big 12 in the sport of wrestling for the 2015-16 season, as they along with Air Force, Missouri, Northern Colorado, Northern Iowa, North Dakota State, South Dakota State and Wyoming all now call the Big 12 home.

In arguably the program's best season of competition, Williams helped his Wolverines spend a school record of 10 consecutive weeks in the NWCA Top 25 Coaches Poll in 2018-19 as well as send a program record six grapplers to the 2019 NCAA Championships. Williams also helped his Wolverines earn their highest NWCA Top 25 Coaches Poll ranking in program history by being ranked as high as No. 21 after knocking off both No. 13 Purdue and No. 15 Rutgers early in the season. Williams also helped lead a total of six of his wrestlers land a spot into the individual national rankings on the season, as well as helped crown the program's inaugural Big 12 champion in 165-pounder Demetrius Romero and guide a program record of five grapplers to podium finishes at the Big 12 Championships. After suffering a number of key injuries during the second half of season, UVU finished with a 10-14 overall record and a 1-8 Big 12 clip in 2018-19.   

In 2017-18, he led his Wolverines to a very successful season in which his team compiled an 8-6 overall record and tied for fifth in the Big 12 standings with a 4-4 conference dual record. He also took a program-best five grapplers to nationals and helped Utah Valley break into the USA Today/NWCA Top 25 Coaches Poll for the first time in program history as the team debuted at No. 25 in early February.  Williams also coached UVU's first-ever Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational champion and the program's first top-ranked wrestler in the nation in Taylor LaMont in the RPI. Along with holding down the No. 1 ranking in the country in the RPI, LaMont also reached as high as No. 6 in the national polls at 125 pounds and entered the NCAA Championships as the highest seeded wrestler in history at No. 7. 

In 2016-17, Williams led his Wolverines to a 5-6 record and a 2-3 clip in Big 12 action. That season, UVU managed to take down a pair of ranked foes in No. 23 North Dakota State in Fargo as well as No. 23 Oregon State of the Pac-12 at home. The Wolverines went on to receive votes for the USA Today/NWCA Caoches Poll for just the second time in program history and sent a pair of grapplers to nationals. 

During Utah Valley's inaugural year of competition in the Big 12, Williams helped his Wolverines pick up a 20-19 upset win at No. 18 Oregon State en route to receiving the program's first-ever votes for the top 25 poll. He also helped five Wolverine grapplers earn a spot on the podium at the 2016 Big 12 Championship, with two advancing on to the 2016 NCAA Championships and Jade Rauser earning All-American honors. 
 
After taking a program-record at the time of four grapplers to nationals in 2014, Williams followed that up by sending three in 2015 and two more in 2016. One of his two 2016 qualifiers was Jade Rauser, who not only earned All-American honors that season, but also became the school’s first-ever four-time NCAA qualifier. 
 
In all, Williams has coached 39 NCAA qualifiers, five All-Americans, eight conference champions, and a total of 38 NWCA Scholar All-Americans since UVU became a full NCAA Division I member prior to the 2009-10 campaign. He has also helped his team land a spot on the NWCA Division I Top 30 Scholar All-American Teams list 12 times over the past 13 seasons, which includes three top-five finishes. Williams also helped coach the program's inaugural NCAA Elite 90 Award recipient in 2018-19 in Matt Findlay, who held the highest cumulative GPA of any of the 330 participants in the 2019 NCAA Championships with a 3.94 GPA while studying biology and minoring in Russian.  
 
In 2009-10, Williams had his most successful year when he led his team to a 10-3 overall record and a second-place conference finish with a 4-1 WWC record. That year he also coached UVU's first-ever NCAA Division I qualifiers as three Wolverine wrestlers punched their tickets to the NCAA Championships. That same season Williams also picked up Utah Valley wrestling's inaugural victory over a nationally-ranked program when his Wolverines upset the then eighth-ranked Boise State Broncos at home by a score of 22-20.
 
In 2008-09, Williams coached his Wolverines to a school-record in victories with an 11-3 clip. Williams' Utah Valley grapplers also posted a 4-1 record in the Western Wrestling Conference that season as well.
 
In Williams' 15 seasons of coaching at UVU, he has a tallied an overall record of 93-116. In his first season of coaching at Utah Valley (2006-07), he posted a 6-12 record and his squad finished at 9-11 in 2007-08 and also picked up the Wolverines’ first Western Wrestling Conference dual victory with a 39-4 win over South Dakota State. In 2010-11, 2011-12 and 2012-13, Williams respectively led his Wolverines to a 5-4, 6-10 and 6-4 records. He also helped his squad’s post a 6-9 tally in 2013-14 ago (2013-14), a 2-9 clip in 2014-15, a 4-10 record in 2015-16, 3-11 in 2019-20, and 2-4 in the COVID-shortened 2020-21 campaign.
 
Williams is the second coach in Utah Valley's short history, as the institution added the sport of wrestling prior to its first season of NCAA Division I competition, 2003-04.
 
Williams brings over 20 years of coaching experience to UVU, including 13 years as the owner and coach of the Elite Wrestling Club prior coming to Utah Valley.
 
He is a 14-time coach of the Utah National Wrestling Team and during his coaching career has tutored over 70 high school All-Americans.
 
Williams' pupils include former UVU assistant coach, Justin Ruiz, who was previously the No. 1 ranked Greco wrestler at 211 lbs. Ruiz was a two-time All-American at Nebraska and a bronze medalist at 2005 World Championships.
 
He began his coaching career at Sky View High School in Smithfield, Utah, where he led the school to an 87-8 record.
 
Williams, a native of San Diego, California, graduated from University High School in 1979 where he was a California State Champion.
 
From there, he moved on to Utah State University in Logan, Utah, where he was an All-American wrestler and a three-time NCAA qualifier for the Aggies.
 
Williams graduated from Utah State in 1985 with a degree in Marketing Education. He and his wife Kristin have two children, Alexis and Taylor.