“I chose gymnastics,” said Mark Williams after getting inducted into the USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2015. The coach revealed that he was a freshman in high school, and one of the coaches asked the gymnast to join wrestling instead. However, the man who has coached the University of Oklahoma’s men’s gymnastics team chose gymnastics.

Practicing the sport as a student-athlete in Nebraska, the Illinois native landed in Oklahoma as the Sooners assistant coach in 1988. And since then he has never looked back. “At this point, these are my roots,” the coach told the OU Daily. “I’ve lived here longer than any place in my life,” added the man, who is now in his 25th year of coaching the OU men’s team. And throughout this time, the legendary coach has built an incredible legacy.

The lofty achievements of the legendary coach

It’s difficult to quantify and condense Mark Williams’ achievements. However, it’s not difficult to put into words the philosophy that helped Williams become a Hall of Famer. “I wanted to increase motivation and drive to perform their gymnastics to the best of their abilities,” Coach Williams recalled about what he wanted to achieve when taking on the head coach role in 2000.

24 years later, these goals remain the same. Even after winning nine national titles and going on a four-title win streak from 2015 to 2018, the hunger to do better remains intact. Even when the Sooners win an NCAA title, Williams believes “there’s always something that could be done better.” And this philosophy has helped OU’s men remain in the top year after year.

When Mark Williams became a USA Gymnastics Hall of Famer, he had already led Oklahoma seniors to 28 national and 50 conference individual titles. Gymnasts under Coach Williams had earned a combined 155 All-America honors, and he had led the team to 12 conference titles. The coach had also guided three Sooners, Steven Legendre, Jonathan Horton, and Daniel Furney, to the Nissen Emery Award recipients.

However, now those numbers have received a solid bump. Currently, the Oklahoma coach’s record stands at 29 national and 72 conference individual titles. He has now won 18 conference championships with Sooners gymnasts earning 255 All-American honors. Meanwhile, 2024 Olympic bronze medalist Yul Moldauer has become Williams’ fourth protégé to earn the Nissen Emery Award. However, the impact of the coach, who sports a 569-51-1 (.917) career record, goes far beyond the stat sheets.

What sets Mark Williams apart?

Throughout the last decade, USA Gymnastics has seen a change in how things get done. The once-reveled old-school coaches such as Bela and Márta Károlyi have come into question after startling revelations of unfair treatment toward athletes. The establishment of the U.S. Center for SafeSport in 2017 has further changed the landscape. However, one of the coaches who never came into question was Mark Williams.

Despite being part of the old school, Williams never pushed his athletes beyond their limits. Nor did he ignore the physical and mental health of his athletes. And it’s this quality that’s set the college gymnastics coach apart from many. Despite achieving countless milestones in his coaching career, chasing glory at the cost of the athlete was never part of Williams’ plans.

In recent years, the coach’s ability to build a relationship with his pupils has only grown stronger. In fact, he has tried to ensure the well-being of his athletes even beyond the sport of gymnastics. “I’ve begun to focus more on the student-athletes and their well-being, how their families are doing, their education, how they interact with the communities and prepare themselves for their careers,” Williams told OU Daily.

Mark Williams’ mindset of putting the athlete before the sport once again came forward during his interview with Inside Gymnastics. “We know we’re not necessarily the favorites this year, but the goal is always to be the best team we can be. And if that’s what we do at National Championships, that’s a successful year, no matter where we finish,” the Hall of Famer said on January 8. So while Coach Williams would love to win his 10th NCAA national title, he won’t do it by pushing his pupils to the extreme.