William Buford, center, appears surrounded by friends and family during a press conference held inside Glasgow High’s gymnasium along Scottie Drive on Wednesday, April 20, 2022.
(JOE MYERS/WCLU SPORTS)
GLASGOW — William Buford was named Wednesday as the newest head coach of Glasgow High’s boys basketball program.
Buford is the school’s first Black coach. He attended Glasgow Independent Schools through his sophomore year before he transferred to Warren Central High School. He graduated from there in 1996.
Buford has spent the last five years at the Chicago Public School system. He most recently served as a health and wellness teacher and assistant varsity basketball coach.
School athletic officials said Burford left a memorable first impression.
“We loved his energy right off the bat,” said Bailey Garmon, the school’s athletic director. “I mean even in our first conversations with him I was getting goosebumps. He was pumping me up.”
Buford graduated from Memphis State University in 2007. He has an extensive coaching background, including one head coaching position in Germantown, Tenn., which is a suburb of Memphis, he said. He later moved to Chicago and coached.
A coaching position was available in Logan County, and Buford called a close friend to ask about the job since he had plans to move home. That friend was Cornelius Faulkner, a head coach within Caverna High’s basketball program. He told Buford about the Glasgow position.
“All I wanted was the interview,” Buford said. “I didn’t think, with my background and stuff, that I was going to have a problem. It’s just a perfect fit for me.”
Buford said his coaching philosophy is based upon effort and “playing hard.”
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