Joe Williams, who coached tiny Jacksonville University to 1970 NCAA title game against UCLA, dead at 88

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Joe Williams, who coached tiny Jacksonville University's men's basketball team to its greatest glory — the 1970 NCAA championship game against John Wooden's UCLA dynasty — died Saturday. He was 88.

Williams died in Enterprise, Mississippi, while in hospice care following a lengthy battle with cancer, his son Joe Williams Jr. said. 

Williams was best known and will be forever remembered as the leader of one of the most memorable Cinderella stories in NCAA tournament history. His 1970 JU Dolphins squad, led by Artis Gilmore, made a stunning run to the NCAA finals, losing to UCLA and coach Wooden in the championship game, 80-69.

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UCLA Bruins coach John Wooden, left, is congratulated by Jacksonville coach Joe Williams after UCLA beat the Dolphins, 80-69, in the national championship March 21, 1970, in College Park, Md. (AP Photo/File)

"Joe had this dream, in my opinion, to make us as good as we could be," said Tom Wasdin, who succeeded Williams as head coach following the 1970 season, according to the Florida Times-Union. "We were trying to outcoach everybody and found out talent was more important than coaching. We didn’t have guys good enough to play against the big schools."

Williams was an assistant coach at Furman before arriving at JU in 1964. The Dolphins competed in the NAIA for one more season before moving up to Division I. 

In Williams' sixth and final season with the team, it made its impressive run, beating Western Kentucky, Iowa, Kentucky and St. Bonaventure before losing to UCLA. The victory gave UCLA its fourth consecutive national championship and sixth in seven years.

UCLA