There's no doubt that Texas A&M basketball coach Buzz Williams is one of the most interesting and unique guys in collegiate sports. He always has an unexpected angle on things, leading to lines that fans remember for a long time.
He's also gifted as a leader, something you hear his players and those in the media often talk about. It's part of what has made this such a special basketball team for A&M this year, and part of what has made so many of these players loyal for extended periods— which, in the era of college sports we're living in, is truly remarkable.
Even so, Buzz will sometimes come out with one-liners or lines of thought in press conferences that will leave fans questioning how he got there. He exemplified that trait yet one more time when he compared Henry Coleman, who had a massive game against Missouri in which he notched 16 rebounds, to... Barack Obama?
Texas A&M basketball coach Buzz Williams compares Henry Coleman to Barack Obama
Yes, you read that right. After pulling down 16 boards, the comparison on Williams' mind for Coleman was the 44th president of the United States.
Texas A&M coach Buzz Williams on Henry Coleman III, who grabbed a career-high 16 rebounds vs. Missouri: “When you think of what Barack Obama was at 22, that’s who Henry is. Just an unbelievable human being. … It was his best college game from start to finish.”
— Carter Karels (@CarterKarels) February 9, 2025
Now, I know Obama is a basketball fan. He was in that documentary on Michael Jordan a few years back. But I'm not sure he ever notched sixteen rebounds against a top-20 team in the NET rankings. Or at least, if he did, the fact has been effectively hidden by powers too deeply-rooted and sinister for me to imagine.
Jokes aside, Buzz has remarked elsewhere that he thinks Coleman could run for president. He's clearly being complimentary with regard to Coleman's leadership skills and overall personality.
You could argue that he should have picked a less controversial public figure, but I think you'd probably have to go back quite a ways to find a president whose name wouldn't cause a negative reaction among some large swath of the population.
This was just Buzz building up one of his players. He doesn't strike me as a particularly political guy, so I don't think he was trying to make any sort of statement on that front— the man lives and breathes basketball, which is exactly what you want in a coach. But this will no doubt be humorous for fans to look back on for quite some time.