In February, the end of one of the most successful periods of boys basketball at Thomas Jefferson came to an end when head coach Kyle Templeton announced his resignation after seven years.

Last week, a new era began as Jefferson named Garfield High School assistant Jamaal Williams their new head coach.

There were more than 20 applicants for the Thomas Jefferson boys basketball head coaching vacancy, but in the end it was Williams who stood out the most.

“On paper, he looked awesome,” said Jefferson athletic director Gracie Holden. “You look at his resume and the successful program he was with at Garfield. He’s from the area as a former UW athlete. He was just the perfect fit for our school.”

Holden also said that Jefferson wanted a coach with experience as an athlete and as a coach.

“It’s exciting,” Williams said. “I think I’ve been ready to step out on my own for a while now. We had such a good thing going at Garfield, it made it hard to step away at an earlier time. This opportunity just happened to present itself and I thought it was a good fit, so I went after it. I was fortunate to get it.”

Williams began his collegiate playing career at the University of New Mexico before he transferred to the University of Washington prior to the 2003-04 season. During the 2004-05 season, his junior year, he helped lead the Huskies to their first Pac-10 Tournament championship and a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.

In both years he played at the University of Washington, the Huskies advanced to the Sweet 16.

After graduating, Williams played professionally overseas in Italy, France, Argentina, Iceland, Israel and the Philippines.

He returned to Seattle to pursue coaching opportunities and spent one year on Lorenzo Romar’s staff at the University of Washington.

“I always talk about the fact that I played for three different college coaches in Fran Fraschilla, Ritchie McKay and Lorenzo Romar,” Williams said. “I’ve been able to try to pick and choose things from each of their systems that I like and try to create my own own philosophy and come up with my own style. That experience, for sure, has helped groom me as a coach.”

Williams has spent the past three seasons at Garfield as an assistant coach. In that time, the Bulldogs won two state championships, one in 4A and one in 3A.

Garfield placed third in 3A at the state tournament in March.

“It’s about knowing what it takes to get the job done,” Williams said about his time at Garfield. “I bring to the table the knowledge of what that journey looks like and what the amount of work looks like to try to attain that type of goal.”

Williams was able to meet with the players for the first time on Monday during a basketball interest meeting.

“They seem excited,” Williams said. “I think I have a good group of guys that are eager to get to work and start developing a new culture. I think they were at a point where they were ready for a change and they were happy to have some change. I think as we get to know each other, great things will happen with this group early. I’m just looking forward to being able to get to work with them.”

Jefferson finished last season with an 11-13 record and hosted a district playoff game for the first time in school history. There were 12 seniors on the roster this past season, leaving only one returning varsity player going into next year.

Williams is looking forward to the challenges of molding the program how he sees fit and of getting through the tough West Central District competition.

“It’ll be no different than going through Metro,” Williams said. “There’s no off nights. We’ve got to understand that there are no cakewalks. This league is the 4A equivalent to Metro.”

Both South Puget Sound League and Metro League had three teams reach the state semifinals this past season. Jefferson will be a part of the North Puget Sound League Olympic Division starting in the 2016-17 season.

“I think Jamaal is going to improve immensely on [what Templeton started],” said Holden. “He just has that commanding presence about him where he’s just respected the moment he walks in. Just talking with kids around the school, they’re excited for this change. I think he’s going to have high expectations on and off the court. I just think the program is going to continue to grow leaps and bounds.”