Williams moves on with no regrets
ROSCOE NANCE
Special to the BCSP
Parting wasn't exactly sweet sorrow when Doug Williams last February abruptly resigned as head football coach at Grambling State to take a front office job with the Tampa Buccaneers in the NFL.
Nonetheless, Williams says he misses being
involved with his alma mater, but he's not
second-guessing his decision to move on.
"I miss Grambling like I miss Zachary (La., his hometown)," Williams says. "That's part of home. But at the same time we all know you got to leave home."
Williams rejoined the Buccaneers, who drafted him No. 1 in 1978 following his storied career at Grambling, after coaching the G-Men for six seasons and returning the program to national prominence. During his tenure, Grambling was 52-18 and won three SWAC championships from 2000-2002. In the process, a rift seemed to develop between Williams, some of Grambling's more influential alumni and the administration.
"I'm not so sure some of the people in high places among the alums really wanted me to still be there," Williams says. "I can say that knowing factually that some of the people in high positions of the alumni didn't want me there for some reason or another. Why, I can't say."
Williams says coaching at Grambling, where he was an All-American quarterback, became exasperating because of the school's inability and/or unwillingness to address the football program's needs.
He won't talk specifically about what went wrong, adding that he still supports Grambling.
"That has passed," he says. "Hopefully, it will get better. The less that is said now that it's over, the better it can become. My job now is to do my job here and be as supportive of Grambling as I possibly can."
But when he joined the Bucs, he said he had become frustrated with the lack of support he had gotten from the administration at Grambling and its unwillingness to upgrade the facilities.
Weeks before taking the Bucs' job, Williams wrote then athletic director Al Dennis a proposal for upgrading Grambling's facilities. His wish list included adding an assistant coach, improvements to the weight room, installing a second practice field and better maintenance for the Tigers' home field, Robinson Stadium, and the practice fields. Williams also asked that 20% of the proceeds that Grambling receives for playing in Classic Games be put back into the football program.
The items in the proposal essentially were things that Williams had sought previously, and he got no response from Dennis to his written proposal.
"It was a whole mix of stuff, but the bottom line is it (joining the Bucs) was an opportunity," Williams says. "Had things been different in certain phases, things might have been different. Who knows? But they weren't and the opportunity was there. When you got an opportunity, you can sit around and hope for improvement in certain situations and you let opportunity to pass. I was in that position.''
Dr. Horace A. Judson, Grambling's new president, fired Dennis as athletic director shortly after taking office. However, Williams says he doesn't see Dennis' firing as vindication for him.
"It wasn't about vindication," Williams says. "It's about what's best for Grambling State University."
Williams says he feels good about the status of the program his successor Melvin Spears his first cousin who served as his offensive coordinator is inheriting. All American quarterback Bruce Eugene is back and so is the entire offensive line.
"They should be in the running," Williams says. "It's not like I left the cupboard bare. For the last four years, we've been a real competitive team. The program is on solid ground. At this point, it's a matter of how they perform to keep it going. The talent is certainly there."
His duties with the Buccaneers include evaluating pro talent, scouting and recruiting free agents. He hopes his position could eventually lead to him running a team of his own.
"You have get in from the bottom up and try to find out all the ins and outs," Williams says. "It's more than a notion. I always said if I had an opportunity to go into the league, I wouldn't mind being in the front office. It wasn't so much a goal because I was in coaching, and I enjoyed coaching."
Williams says Bucs general manager Bruce Allen has made it easy for him to make the transition from the sidelines to the front office by allowing him to be involved in all aspects of the operation.
"The biggest adjustment is being on the other side of the fence. As a coach, you have a lot more contact day-to-day on the field with players. You don't have that. You're looking at it from a different perspective. It's from a management standpoint. You're sitting in on the decision-making process and opinions on certain situations. As a player and a coach, that doesn't concern you because you're out there playing and working and trying to win games."
© 2004 Azeez Communications, Inc.