Here's why Parkway’s Gloria Williams is the Times/Richard Lary Coach of the Year
Parkway’s Gloria Williams is much more than just a state championship basketball coach with an ever-expanding trophy case of accolades.
Like most coaches who are successful on the court, Williams does the things off the court that create a learning environment for her athletes that leads to championships.
“One of the things we always emphasized to our girls is ‘how a Lady Panther’ acts, and Gloria role-modeled those actions every day,” said former Parkway assistant coach Tucker Cox, currently the head coach at Airline. “The way she carried herself, how she spoke and the level of servitude she showed every day.”
Because of her ability to be a life-changer for the athletes under her direction, Williams is the 2023 Shreveport Times/Richard Lary Coach of the Year. The annual award was named for the former Captain Shreve football coach in 2016. Lary died of a heart attack in April of 2015.
She joins previous award winners such as Mack Jones (Huntington, 2022) , Mike Suggs (Byrd, 2021) and Keith Greene (Captain Shreve, 2019).
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Williams has twice been named Times All-City Coach of the Year after guiding the Lady Panthers to a state runner-up finish in 2022 and to the LHSAA state title in March. The 2023 LSWA Coach of the Year has a two-year record of 37-3.
“Coach Williams has done a good job of putting the final pieces together to complete this state championship team,” former Airline coach Lyndzee McConathy said. “She’s a great mother figure to those girls. She and I share raising our own kids in the gym and it has been a comfort to know my own kids look forward to going to other gyms to play with her son, Ben.”
One of the greatest measures of a coach is what their players say about them.
“She’s a great coach and a better person. She always makes sure you are doing well before she evens speaks on basketball,” Parkway senior Chloe Larry said. “She’s always making sure you know she cares about you as a person, but at the same time, when we step in those lines it’s business as well.”
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Cox said he appreciates that Williams took him in as a young coach and began to change the culture at Parkway, which had multiple losing seasons before she took the reins.
“I joke with people when we talked about how the basketball girls viewed Gloria and the best way I could put it was, ‘They love how much they fear her, and fear how much they love her,’” Cox said. “She’s demanded success since day one and that was the biggest thing that led to our culture change. I love that woman.”
Growing up in a basketball environment Cox said he was influenced by a number of men, including his father, Richard, along with Chris White, Bobby Stephenson, Mike McConathy, Jeff Moore, Mike Guess, Brian Rayner and Jeremiah Williams.
“But now I have to change that statement to all of the great ‘people’ because Gloria 100% falls into that category,” he said.
And Williams has been impressionable on basketball road trips, dinners and at holiday parties at her house.
“Gloria was always a welcoming host,” Cox said. “She always made sure our bellies were full and that the girls had a dance or karaoke party.”
Jimmy Watson covers Louisiana sports for the USA TODAY Network. Email him at jwatson@shreveporttimes.com and follow him on Twitter @JimmyWatson6.
Times/Richard Lary Coaches of the Year
2015: Tim Hulett, Evangel baseball*
2016: Mike Greene, Fair Park football
2017: Lori McFerren, North DeSoto softball
2018: Jerwin Wilson, Woodlawn football
2019: Keith Greene, Captain Shreve basketball
2020: No one named
2021: Mike Suggs, Byrd football
2022: Mack Jones, Huntington basketball
2023: Gloria Williams, Parkway basketball
*The award was named for Richard Lary in 2016
This article originally appeared on Shreveport Times: Why is Parkway’s Gloria Williams the Richard Lary Coach of the Year?
