Al Williams
Director of Athletics
Phone: (208) 769-3348
Email: al_williams@nic.edu
Office: PST-102
Al Williams was appointed athletics director at North Idaho College in 2003. He brings more than 20 years of management-level experience in financial administration and has more than 14 years experience in coaching and athletics administration.
Prior to NIC, Williams served as the men's assistant basketball coach at the University of Denver where his responsibilities included recruiting, scheduling, sports camps, and monitoring student-athletes' academic success. While at the University of Denver, he also held the position of assistant director of athletics development from 2001 to 2002. In that role, he managed all athletic fund-raising activities, developed community development programs for minority groups, managed booster groups, and coordinated special events.
Williams earned an associate's degree in business from NIC in 1979 while playing basketball for NIC's nationally-ranked team that finished 26-6. He went on to earn a bachelor's degree in business management from the University of Idaho, where he played basketball as well, and a master's degree in business administration from the University of Phoenix. Williams served as basketball coach at Lincoln Park High School in Chicago for four years and honed his skills in executive-level management positions in healthcare, internal audit, international mining, and nonprofit corporate sectors before entering the higher education arena.
During Williams' tenure, the Cardinals have experienced exceptional success on a national and regional level. Four of the Cardinals' five women's programs have earned their first-ever National Junior College Athletic Association national tournament appearances with outstanding results. Women’s basketball won the 2011 National Championship, and Softball (second-place national finish in 2007), soccer (third-place national finish in 2008), and volleyball (fourth-2006, fifth-2010) have all earned top five finishes during this time. Women's basketball also finished eighth nationally in 2010 and ninth in 2009, and the recently created women's golf team has earned three straight national tournament appearances, finishing 11th in the nation last season. All of the programs were nationally ranked in 2009, 2010, and 2011 with volleyball ending the regular season as the No. 1-ranked team in the country in 2009.
The men's programs have also experienced similar success. Wrestling has added four national runner-up finishes to its 13 national titles during the last seven years, including a second-place finish in 2009 and 2011and third in 2010. Men's soccer earned four consecutive Region 18 championships from 2005 to 2008, while earning national recognition in the NJCAA polls. Men's basketball boasts Scenic West Athletic Conference regular season championships in 2010, 2009, and 2006, and earned the school’s first ever No. 1 ranking in the 2011 NJCAA poll. In addition, the men's golf program has earned three straight national tournament appearances in 2009, 2010 and 2011.
Individually, the Cardinals have garnered unprecedented national recognition, earning more All-American honors in the past five years than any period in NIC history. Academically, the Cardinals have earned at least two Academic All-American team honors annually during Williams' tenure, including six teams with a team grade point average of 3.0 or better in the 2011-12 fiscal year.
The North Idaho College Cardinals athletic motto: Building on a Tradition of Excellence!