Gregg Williams

This article is about the American football coach. For other uses, see Greg Williams (disambiguation).

Gregg Williams

Williams at the 2010 Tulane University commencement ceremony
Personal information
Date of birth	July 15, 1958 (1958-07-15)
Place of birth	Excelsior Springs, Missouri
Career information
Position(s)	Defensive coordinator
College	Truman State University
Head coaching record
Career record	17-31
Stats
Coaching stats	Pro Football Reference
Coaching stats	DatabaseFootball
Team(s) as a coach/administrator
1984–1987 1988–1989 1990–1996 1997–2000 2001–2003 2004–2007 2008 2009–2011 2012-present	Belton HS (HC) University of Houston (GA) Houston Oilers (Def. Asst./ST/LB) Tennessee Oilers/Titans (DC) Buffalo Bills (HC) Washington Redskins (DC/Asst. HC) Jacksonville Jaguars (DC) New Orleans Saints (DC) St. Louis Rams (DC)

Gregg Williams (born July 15, 1958) is the defensive coordinator of the St. Louis Rams and the former head coach of the Buffalo Bills. Considered one of the most respected defensive minds in the game, Williams is known for running aggressive, attacking 4-3 schemes that put heavy pressure on opposing quarterbacks.

Football career

Early career

Gregg Williams was a head coach for the Class 5 Belton High School Pirate football team in Belton, Missouri. He attended Northeast Missouri State University (now Truman State University) in Kirksville, Missouri. Williams was an assistant coach for the University of Houston under former Redskins head coach, Jack Pardee.

Houston Oilers/Tennessee Titans

In 1990 Williams became the Special Teams coach of the Houston Oilers under then defensive coordinator, Buddy Ryan. From 1994-1996, Williams was the linebackers coach for the Oilers. From 1997-2000, Williams was promoted to Defensive Coordinator of the now Tennessee Titans after the Oilers moved out of Houston. As the Defensive Coordinator, the Titans led the league in total defense and only gave up 191 points, the third fewest in the NFL since the league adopted the 16-game schedule in 1978. The defense also helped lead the Titans to Super Bowl XXXIV where they lost to the St. Louis Rams.

Buffalo Bills

He earned his first head coaching position with the Buffalo Bills. As the Bills' head coach, his team was known for highly conservative calls, especially on offense. He was the inspiration for Gregg Easterbrook's designation of "the maroon zone" by frequently punting in opponent territory.^{[citation needed]} Williams was 17-31 as the Bills' coach, and was fired after a 6-10 record in the 2003 season.

Washington Redskins

After his release from Buffalo, Williams was at the top of several NFL teams' list for the position of defensive coordinator. Williams quickly signed with the Washington Redskins, the only team with which he interviewed, because Head Coach Joe Gibbs offered him total autonomy over his defensive players and defensive coaching staff.

In Washington, with Williams' aggressive defensive scheme, the Redskins' defense ranked third in the NFL in 2004 and ninth in 2005.

On January 3, 2006, Williams signed a three year extension to remain with the Redskins, which made him the highest paid assistant coach in the NFL.

His defense struggled in 2006, at point ranked 30th in the League. However, the 2007 season was a vast improvement for Williams. The defense ranked within the top ten in the NFC, and the team finished 9-7, with a loss in the wildcard round to the Seattle Seahawks. Williams had established a particularly close relationship with 24-year-old free safety Sean Taylor, calling him "the best player [he'd] ever coached." When Taylor was murdered mid-season on November 27, 2007, Williams was deeply affected. In tribute to Taylor, Williams called a defensive play with only ten men for the first play of the Redskins' first game after the tragedy, a November 30, 2007 game against the Buffalo Bills. For the remainder of the season, Williams ran an inspired defense which performed, along with the rest of the team, to honor Taylor's memory, highlighted by holding star running back Adrian Peterson of the Minnesota Vikings to 27 yards on December 23, 2007, and allowing a franchise-low one yard rushing to the Dallas Cowboys on December 30, 2007, sealing a playoff seed. After Joe Gibbs retired, Williams was considered to be the most popular candidate to take over as Head Coach of the Washington Redskins. He interviewed four times with team owner Daniel Snyder. However, on January 26, 2008, Williams was fired, along with Assistant Head Coach–Offense Al Saunders.

Jacksonville Jaguars

On February 6, 2008, Williams became the defensive coordinator of the Jacksonville Jaguars. The position was vacated by Mike Smith who was hired to coach the Atlanta Falcons.

New Orleans Saints

Williams was hired by the New Orleans Saints on January 15, 2009. Head coach Sean Payton, who was heavily involved in the effort to recruit Williams to the team, raved about Williams “because he was so impressive and prepared” in his interview. In fact, Williams was so impressive that Payton offered and took a voluntary $250,000 cut in salary to help facilitate his signing with the team. He took over a Saints defense ranked 23rd in the NFL in yards allowed and tied for 26th in points allowed in 2008.

Williams's approach yielded immediate results, as the 2009 Saints recorded 35 defensive takeaways, second in the league, and the aggressive defense played an integral role in the Saints' run to their first Super Bowl championship. However, in the 2010 and 2011 seasons, the defense (although showing statistical improvement in some other categories) failed to repeat its turnover successes. After the Saints were knocked out of the 2011 playoffs in a 36-32 loss to San Francisco, in which the defense played well for most of the game but twice failed to hold a Saints lead during the last four minutes, it was widely reported that Williams would leave the Saints to become defensive coordinator of the St. Louis Rams, under their new head coach Jeff Fisher, for whom Williams had also worked when Fisher was the head coach at Tennessee.

St. Louis Rams

On January 16, 2012, NFL Network's Jason La Canfora reported that Williams had agreed to join the Rams coaching staff as defensive coordinator.

External links

• Official Redskins website biography of Coach Williams
• Official New Orleans Saints website biography of Coach Williams

Sporting positions
Preceded by Steve Sidwell	Tennessee Oilers/Titans Defensive Coordinator 1997–2000	Succeeded by Jim Schwartz
Preceded by George Edwards	Washington Redskins Defensive Coordinators 2004–2007	Succeeded by Greg Blache
Preceded by Mike Smith	Jacksonville Jaguars Defensive Coordinator 2008	Succeeded by Mel Tucker
Preceded by Gary Gibbs	New Orleans Saints Defensive Coordinator 2009–2011	Succeeded by Steve Spagnuolo
Preceded by Ken Flajole	St. Louis Rams Defensive Coordinator 2012–present	Succeeded by incumbent