Gregg Williams

Infobox NFL PlayerCoach


Color=#00576e
fontcolor=#d0b239
Name=Gregg Williams
|Caption=
DateOfBirth=Birth date and age|1958|7|15|mf=y
Birthplace=flagicon|Missouri Excelsior Springs, MO
College=Central Missouri
Position=Assistant Head Coach - Defense
Awards=
Honors=
Records=
Record=17-31
SuperBowls=
Championships=
DatabaseFootballCoach=WILLIGRE01
PFRCoach=WillGr0
coach=yes
coachingteams=Houston Oilers "STC"
Tennessee Oilers "LB"
Tennessee Titans "DC"
Buffalo Bills "HC"
Washington Redskins "AHC"
Jacksonville Jaguars "DC"
coachingyears=1990-1996
1997-1998
1999-2000
2001-2003
2004-2007
2008-present
HOF=

Gregg Williams (born July 15, 1958) is the defensive coordinator of the Jacksonville Jaguars and the former head coach of the Buffalo Bills. Though not successful as a head coach, he is widely viewed as one of the top defensive minds in football. Williams is known for crafting top-ranked defenses using "no-name" defensive players.

Football career

Early career

Williams was an assistant coach for the University of Houston under former Redskins head coach, Jack Pardee. He later went on to become 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 constantly punting in opponent territory. 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 3rd in the NFL in 2004 and 9th 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.

In 2006, however, his status as a great defensive coach was somewhat diminished due to his team's poor play. Specifically, following the sixteenth week of the season, the Redskins' defense was ranked last in the NFC and 30th overall in the league.

The 2007 season was a vast improvement for Williams. The defense ranked within the top 10 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 killed mid-season on November 27th, 2007, Williams was deeply affected. In tribute to Taylor, Williams called a defensive play with only 10 men for the first play of the Redskins' first game after the tragedy, a November 30th, 2007 game against the Buffalo Bills. [ [http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/7580326?CMP=OTC-K9B140813162&ATT=5 FOX Sports on MSN - NFL - NFL can honor Taylor at Pro Bowl] ] 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 23rd, 2007 [ [http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/boxscore?gameId=271223016 ESPN - Washington vs. Minnesota Box Score, December 23 2007 - NFL Football] ] , and allowing a franchise-low one yard rushing to the Dallas Cowboys on December 30th, 2007, sealing a playoff seed. [ [http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/recap?gameId=271230028 ESPN - Skins cap resurgence with rout of Cowboys, playoff berth - NFL Football Recap] ]

Jacksonville Jaguars

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 Dan Snyder. However, on January 26 2008, Williams was fired, along with Assistant Head Coach - Offense Al Saunders. [ [http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3215817 ESPN - Redskins dismiss Williams, Saunders; promote Blache to lead defense - NFL] ] On February 6, 2008, Williams became the new defensive coordinator of the Jacksonville Jaguars. The position was vacated by Mike Smith who was hired to coach the Atlanta Falcons.

References

External links

* [http://www.redskins.com/team/cprofile.jsp?id=47 Official Redskins website biography of Coach Williams]