His nickname was Big Nasty, and while he was one of the nicest people and most popular players in Sacramento, on the basketball court Corliss Williamson fit the profile.

He swung elbows with the brawniest of peers and with more oomph than most forwards his size. He worked hard and studied even harder. And he never stranded a teammate in a scrum or, for that matter, failed to muscle his way into the heart of a community.

He's still that guy, but with a different moniker.

Coach. Coach Corliss. Coach Williamson.

He knows, it sounds strange. In his second season as head coach at Central Arkansas, the former Kings forward is bringing his team to the West Coast for a season opener tonight at Stanford and a meeting with Sacramento State on Sunday at 1 p.m.

"We have a joke around here," Williamson said from his office. "We just want to win more games than the football team. We were only 5-24 last year. But we've brought in seven new players and added some length and athleticism, and we've got a group of guys who are willing to learn and compete."

That reflects the coach's personality. Learn and compete, that was Corliss. Though the Kings' 1995 first-round draft choice never equaled the celebrity he experienced in his native Arkansas, he had a fulfilling NBA career. In 12 seasons with four teams, the 6-foot-7, 245-pound forward maximized his talents, averaging 11.1 points. And he was a key part of the Pistons' 2003-04 championship team as their sixth man.

While in Detroit, he demanded more of Larry Brown than his perfectionist coach demanded of him, which as everyone familiar with the NBA knows is a highly unusual experience.

"That's when I caught the coaching bug," Williamson said. "It just hit me. I was watching Larry, and then I started talking to him about coaching, asking what he would do in certain situations. Then when I got traded back to the Kings (2005), I started picking Coachie's (Pete Carril's) brain. Sometimes after practice, I would sit down with him for hours and watch film."

Williamson, who retired in 2007, didn't remain out of work long. He spent two seasons as an assistant and another year as head coach at Arkansas Baptist before being lured to Central Arkansas, a Division I program in nearby Conway. The campus features a cluster of red brick buildings with white roofs, stately lawns and an enrollment of 11,000 students.

Though his alma mater, Arkansas, is only 160 miles away and easily the favored program among the area's elite prep players, Williamson, 38, says his recruiting benefits from two factors: Parents remember his legendary high school and college career, and most of the kids know him from the NBA. Occasionally, though, a few reminders are helpful.

During one unproductive practice, Williamson's associate head coach, who also happens to be his cousin, screamed for a timeout and huddled the players tightly around the head coach.

"Get next to the head coach," Clarence Finley barked. "Get next to the head coach. Do you smell his cologne? That's a winner. He's not used to losing … "

Williamson isn't completely unfamiliar with losing, of course, at least at the NBA level. Though he started at small forward on Rick Adelman's transformational 1998-99 Kings team, he was traded to Toronto for Doug Christie in 2000, thus missing out on Sacramento's best seasons. Reacquired in the 2005 swap that sent Chris Webber to the 76ers, he rejoined a franchise moving toward the inevitable rebuilding phase.

Williamson, who believes college coaching is more compatible with a family that includes a wife, a teenager and two youngsters, acknowledges the challenges at a lower-level Division I school can be daunting.

Coaches supervise study hall and monitor class attendance, and assistants have been known to help with tutoring, research papers and class selection. Williamson, though, is most comfortable running drills, blowing the whistle and trying to instill his personality in his players.

If not quite as exacting as Brown, Williamson nonetheless describes himself as a "tough taskmaster" who has no tolerance for players who don't fully commit to the team – and academics. His three seniors are on schedule to graduate in May.

As for the future? Maybe a move to a major program or pursuit of an assistant's position in the NBA?

Williamson refuses to bite. He is consumed by the Cardinal and the Hornets.

"We get to play against great talent and learn about ourselves," he explained, "and get to visit Sacramento. That's all part of it."

© Copyright The Sacramento Bee. All rights reserved.

Call The Bee's Ailene Voisin, (916) 321-1208.

• Read more articles by Ailene Voisin