High School

Recent NBA coach Monty Williams takes over Texas high school basketball program

San Antonio's TMI Episocal hires 2022 NBA Coach of Year, where he'll coach his son, 5-star small forward prospect Elijah Williams

Andy Buhler

Monty Williams coaches during the Detroit Pistons' game against the Washington Wizards.
Monty Williams coaches during the Detroit Pistons' game against the Washington Wizards. / Reggie Hildred-Imagn Images

A former NBA Coach of the Year is taking over a Texas high school basketball program.

Monty Williams, who was the head coache the Suns, Pelicans and Pistons, has taken over as head coach of San Antonio private military school TMI Episcopal, the school announced on Sunday.

"We are thrilled to welcome Coach Williams to this position and look forward to the future of our basketball program under his leadership," the school said in a press release.

The Detroit Pistons fired Williams in June after the team went 14-68 and lost a record 28-strraight games only a year after signing him to a six-year, $78.5 million deal — the biggest coaching contract in NBA history.

Detroit still owes him some $65 million on that deal.

He will coach his son, four-star small forward Elijah Williams. The younger Williams is the No. 1 prospect in Texas, No. 7 rated small forward in the country and No. 22 overall prospect in the class of 2026, per ESPN.

Both the 247 Sports Composite and Rivals tab the 6-foot-6, 200-pound senior as a 5-star prospect. He sports offers from Arizona, California, Oregon and Notre Dame, among others.

He previously played at Scottsdale Christian Academy School in Arizona and was on the team as a junior when the Eagles went 10-15 and reached the second round of the AIA playoffs.

TMI went 23-19 overall in 2024 and reached the TAPPS 5A state regional playoffs (third round).

TMI — stands for Texas Military Institute — Episopal is a sixth through 12th grade school that has around The U.S. News & World Report tabs the school's enrollment at just under 500 students.

Here is TMI Episocal's official statement on the hiring:

"We are excited to announce that Monty Williams will be our new Head Coach for the Boys' Basketball Team. Coach Williams brings extensive coaching experience, including his most recent roles in the NBA as the Head Coach of the Detroit Pistons and Phoenix Suns (where he was named NBA Coach of the Year in 2022). He and his wife, Lisa, recently moved to San Antonio and are also TMI parents to Elijah, Class of ‘26, and Micah, Class of ‘29. We are thrilled to welcome Coach Williams to this position and look forward to the future of our basketball program under his leadership."

Monty Williams, who is 6-foot-8, played high school ball at Potomac in Oxon Hill, Maryland, then Notre Dame in the late 80s and early 90s. He was drafted by the New York Knicks in 1994 and played 10 seasons in the NBA.

He joined the Portland Trail Blazers coaching staff as an assistant coach in 2005 and coached in the league for 19 years.

This is a developing story.

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-- Andy Buhler | andy@scorebooklive.com | @sblivetx

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Andy Buhler
ANDY BUHLER

Andy Buhler is a Regional Editor of Texas and the national breaking news desk. He brings more than five years of experience covering high school sports across the state of Washington and beyond, where he covered the likes of Paolo Banchero and Tari Eason served on state tournament seeding committees. He works on the SBLive/Sports Illustrated Power 25 national boys basketball rankings. He has covered everything from the Final Four, MLS in Atlanta to local velodrome before diving into the world of preps. His bylines can be found in The News Tribune (Tacoma, Washington), The Associated Press, The Columbian (Vancouver, Washington), The Oregonian and more. He holds a degree from Gonzaga and is based out of Portland, Oregon.

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