Jason Williams said Tuesday that his loyalties now sit with Texas Tech, not Florida, after a tense weekend that involved both of his daughters in the Gainesville Super Regional. Speaking on Barstool Sports' Wake Up Barstool, the former Gators guard answered a question with, “Was, was.”
Williams, whose daughter Mia Williams plays junior second base for Texas Tech, went further in comments that made his break with Florida impossible to miss. “The only time I’ll ever step foot on Gainesville’s campus again is if my daughter plays softball there again,” he said, and later wrote “F— FLorida” in an Instagram comment after Sunday’s game.
The force of that reaction came from what happened over the three-game series. Florida lost the finale 16-7 on Sunday and did not shake hands with Texas Tech afterward, while a Florida fan allegedly struck Nina Williams, Jason Williams’ other daughter, with a handheld fan in the series opener. The weekend had already been marked by rising friction, with the source account saying Florida ace Keagan Rothrock hit Mia Williams with a pitch five times during the series.
That scene carried extra weight because Williams is not some detached parent watching from a distance. He followed Billy Donovan from Marshall to Florida in 1996, sat out a year before playing in the 1997-98 season, and then became a productive guard for the Gators, appearing in 20 games with 17 starts and averaging 17 points and 6 assists a game. Florida was also where his college career ran into trouble, as he failed multiple drug tests during his tenure.
Williams later entered the 1998 NBA Draft and was selected by Sacramento seventh overall, then went on to a 12-year NBA career that included a championship with Miami. That history is why his public split from Florida matters beyond one angry social media post: he has lived both sides of the program’s legacy, and this weekend pushed him firmly to the other side. For now, the clearest next chapter is the one still on the field, where Texas Tech and Mia Williams have already become the center of a dispute that has spilled far beyond softball.
