My wife and I had the pleasure of meeting Coach Williams many years ago at an American University Alumni reception after a game against Havard. He talked with us for a couple of minutes, about 110 seconds more time we would have gotten from any other Division 1 coach.
Ditto. I was playing in a UMD Business School Golf tournament. This was back when he was just getting some elevation from the awful sanctions he inherited. I couldn't resist thanking him for the what he was doing for the program and the school. He proceeded to thank me and gave me a sincere, extended discourse on the players and how he hoped to build on their talent. I think Gary has deep support among alumni because this is the way he is, and it builds one supporter at a time. In this way he is a real "power player".