James Williams Joins Gym Devils As Assistant Coach

TEMPE – The Sun Devil Gymnastics staff has grown as head coach Jay Santos has hired new assistant coach James Williams.

"I am extremely excited to add James to our coaching staff! He is a tremendous person and coach and brings so much experience from both college and club," Santos said. "I have no doubt he will continue to elevate our program and inspire our student-athletes to do great things!"

Williams comes to Arizona State after working as a recruiting associate. Prior to that, he spent four seasons at San José State, where he was primarily a bars and floor coach. He also has experience coaching at Yale and in club gymnastics.

With the Spartans, Williams helped the team reach new heights as the bars and floor coach in his four years there. The 2022 MPSF Assistant Coach of the Year, he helped the team earn eight of the top-10 team program bests on bars and the top six on floor. On bars, one of those was a program record of 49.350, which was set in 2022. That season, the team set the five highest team scores in program history and earned nine of the top 10 individual all-around scores. In the MPSF conference, he helped the squad sweep first-team all-conference on bars in 2022. During his time, he coached 10 All-MPSF selections on bars and nine on floor. 

At Yale, he was an assistant coach for a year, where he was the primary vault, bars and floor coach. He was named the 2018 ECAC Assistant Coach of the Year. The 2018 team had the highest team score, bars score and vault score in school history as well as its highest RQS in program history. Two Bulldogs qualified for the NCAA Regional for the first time, and the team broke more than 40 school records.
 
A club coach with over 12 years experience at JO and Level 10 or higher, he was the women's team coach at AIM Texans Athletics in The Woodlands, Texas prior to going to Yale. Williams coached the women's team at the KPAC Kristie Phillips Athletic Center in Statesville, N.C., and at the Stars Gymnastics Training Center in Houston, Texas.
 
Williams is a 2010 University of Houston graduate with a bachelor's degree in business.