Coaching high school basketball wasn’t on Caronica Randle Williams’ radar when she returned to her home state last spring to be an assistant with the Arkansas State University women’s team.
But one phone call and a bundle of joy gave her just enough incentive to change course.
“Everything happens for a reason,” said Williams, who left her post at ASU to become the head coach at her alma mater, Forrest City, in May. “I had no intentions whatsoever of getting into coaching at the high school level. The opportunity came out of nowhere really because it wasn’t necessarily something I was searching for.
“But at the same time, the timing couldn’t have been any better, especially with everything that was going on with me and my family.”
A special situation was needed to coax Williams, a former all-state player at Forrest City, into leaving Division-I coaching for the prep circuit.
The 34-year-old graduated from the University of Central Arkansas in 2008 as the third-leading scorer in Sugar Bears’ history. She would spend the next four years on the UCA’s women’s staff as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator under Matt Daniel. Williams later thrived in those same roles for four years at Marshall when Daniel took over the Thundering Herd in 2012.
She was also an associate head coach at Furman from 2016-19 before reuniting with Daniel at ASU last year as the Red Wolves’ associate head coach.
But Williams got a phone call from someone close to the Forrest City athletic program gauging her interest about possibly returning to coach the Lady Mustangs after Erica Taylor resigned in April for the head coaching job with the West Memphis girls’ basketball team.
That conversation piqued Williams’ interest, particularly because of the changes that were about to take place. She and her husband were only weeks away from welcoming a baby boy, and making the switch to high school presented her with a chance to devote an extended amount of time to her family while continuing to coach.
Trying to juggle both at the college level might have been more difficult for her to do.
“I started thinking about life in general, as a whole,” Williams said. “There’s a lot of traveling in college, which means it’s a lot of time away from your family and everything like that. For me, I just didn’t want to take that risk.
“So going back to Forrest City, I know I’ll be able to go back home and have that time with my family while still trying to make an impact with some of these younger kids within my area.”
Now, it’s full speed ahead for the UCA Hall of Famer.
Williams said she’s still adjusting to life with a newborn and relocating this month to her hometown, but she’s also found time to lay out what her intentions are with the Lady Mustangs.
“With college, there’s a level of adulthood, but on the high school level, you’re talking about maybe having to break down the basics of basketball all over again,” she said. “Erica paved the way with this team during her time there and did an outstanding job. My expectation is to go in and work as hard as they worked the last few years with her.
“More importantly, we want to have a good time doing so and try to keep that winning mentality going. But at the same time, you also hope that whatever you instill in them, it goes will them for the rest of their life, not just on the court but in life in general.”
“So going back to Forrest City, I know I’ll be able to go back home and have that time with my family while still trying to make an impact with some of these younger kids within my area.”