Coaching Staff

Head Coach Bill Michaels
Bill Michaels Since arriving at Williamson Trade School 7 years ago, Coach Bill Michaels has lead a turnaround in the Williamson basketball program like never before in the school’s 121 year history.

Hired in July of 2002, Coach Michaels inherited a team that went 5-23 the previous year. Prior to his arrival, Williamson had 7 straight losing seasons and only 2 winning seasons in the previous 15 years.

Due to his July hiring, Coach Michaels had no chance to recruit and was forced to play with the hand that was dealt him in his first season. All he did was lead the team to an 18-6 record and into the United States Collegiate Athletic Association Division II National Tournament where Williamson managed to shock the basketball world and finish 3rd in the nation!

As if his first year accomplishments were not enough, Coach Michaels topped his incredible first year performance by leading Williamson to the USCAA Division II National Championship game in 2004 where the team eventually lost to Arkansas Baptist University.

Though the team slipped to just 7 wins in 2004-05 due to personnel and injury issues, Coach Michaels had Williamson right back in the national picture in 2005-06 as the Mechanics not only qualified for the USCAA Division II National Tournament once again but they upset the #1 seeded team in the 1st round en route to another national 3rd place finish.

The 2006-07 team started slow but managed to come on strong in the 2nd semester. Williamson was ranked as high as #6 in the nation and managed to finish 2nd in the inaugural Eastern Atlantic Conference tournament before a late season collapse left them just short of a national tournament bid for the 4th time in 5 years.

The 2007-08 season was one like no other in the history of Williamson. After losing their starting center prior to the start of the season and then 2 key bench players shortly after the season began, few people expected Williamson to have a winning record-let alone compete for a national championship. And yet, that is exactly what Williamson did. After finishing 20-8 during the regular season, they received a bid to the 2008 USCAA Division II national championships where they upset 3 schools, including both the 2007 and 2006 national champions, on the way to winning the first national championship in any sport in school history.

Coach Michaels began his coaching career at Herndon High School in Virginia in 1993 where he was the freshman basketball coach as well as an assistant for the football and baseball teams.

After 2 years at Herndon, he then moved back to his hometown area to become an assistant basketball and football coach at Farrell High School. While at Farrell, Coach Michaels was part of a football staff that won back-to-back state championships. In 1998 he accepted the position of Head Boy’s Basketball Coach at the school and put together two of the best seasons in school history. His record over that 2-year period was 51-10. His teams won back-to-back Sectional titles and made Elite 8 appearances in each year as well. His also guided the 1999-2000 team to their first District championship appearance in 10 years. For his efforts, Coach Michaels was named 1999-2000 Sectional and District VII Coach of the Year.

In 2000, Coach Michaels moved on once again, this time to become the Head Boy’s Basketball Coach at Norristown High School. He guided the team, facing a tough rebuilding campaign, to a winning season in his only season.

After a year at Norristown, Coach Michaels then accepted an invitation to join the Neumann College basketball staff as an Assistant Coach. In his only year on staff at Neumann, he helped guide the Knights to a 21-7 overall record, the best record in school history.

A 1993 graduate of Mercyhurst College, Coach Michaels is currently the Lead Teacher at Norristown High School. He and his wife Cara reside in Norristown, PA.

Assistant Coach Kevin Brown
A 2003 graduate of Williamson out of the Painting and Coverings program, Coach Brown has had a significant impact on Williamson’s basketball program as both a player and a coach.

During his Williamson career Kevin was just one of a select few in school history to amass over 700 career points and 700 career rebounds. His outstanding play his senior year helped lead Williamson to an 18-6 record and a 3rd place finish at the 2003 USCAA Division II National Championships. For his outstanding play at Nationals, Kevin was named to the 2003 All-Tournament team.

A year after graduating, Kevin returned to Williamson as a member of the basketball coaching staff. His work with Williamson’s forwards and centers had an immediate impact then and he has had that same kind of impact over the entire program since coming on staff and his coaching had a dramatic effect on Williamson’s 2008 USCAA Division II national championship team.

Coach Brown is currently an instructor in the Painting and Coverings program at Williamson. He resides on the Williamson campus with his wife Carolyn