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Doug Williams Leaves Grambling for Tampa Bay Front Office

By Nikki G. Bannister
Black College Wire

Photo credit: www.buccaneers.com Doug Williams, back with the Buccaneers

After replacing the legendary Eddie Robinson to become only the second head football coach in the history of Grambling State University, Doug Williams has announced that he will leave the Tigers to join the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

At a Feb. 12 news conference, Bucs General Manager Bruce Allen said Williams would become the team’s new personnel executive.

"Why would you not pick somebody who was a first-round draft choice from a historic college, played under a legendary coach, was a great NFL player, played in two professional leagues, coached in high school, Europe and two colleges?" Allen said.

Buccaneers head coach Jon Gruden said, "It’s been well documented that maybe the Buccaneers haven’t had the tradition that maybe a lot of teams have had. But Doug Williams, in all my years as a coach, ranks at the very top of my list as a human being, as a competitor, as a leader."

A 1978 graduate of Grambling State, Williams will return to Tampa Bay after 21 years.

A Bucs first-round draft pick in his graduation year, Williams spent four years with the team and led them to the playoffs three times.

"Let me say it this way. Getting out of the coaching element wasn’t as hard as walking away from Grambling," Williams said. "Grambling is going to always be right there for me. I think when you get an opportunity like I have here, to be a part of something great and something that you can have a hand in, it makes it a little easier. "

After leaving Tampa Bay in 1982, Williams played with the Oklahoma Outlaws of the now-defunct United States Football League before signing with the Washington Redskins. Williams made history there in 1988 as the first African American quarterback to start and win a Super Bowl. He also was the game’s most valuable player. Williams retired from the National Football League in 1989 due to a back injury.

After scouting for the Jacksonville Jaguars and coaching on the high school and collegiate level, Williams replaced Robinson in 1998.

"Grambling has been good for me and I hope that I’ve been good for Grambling," Williams said.

His record at Grambling is 52-18, while his overall coaching record is 55-26.

Nikki G. Bannister, a student at Southern University, writes for The Southern Digest.

Tampa Bay announcement

Posted Feb. 16, 2004