Gregg Williams

Gregg Williams (born July 15, 1958) is an American football coach who is currently the defensive coordinator for the DC Defenders of the United Football League (UFL).

After graduating from Excelsior Springs High School (MO) in 1976, Gregg Williams played quarterback at Northeast Missouri State University (now Truman State University) in Kirksville, Missouri.

He started his coaching career as an assistant football coach at this alma mater, Excelsior Springs High School (MO).

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.

After being passed over for the head coaching job at Excelsior Springs High School in 1983, he was hired as head coach for the Class 5 Belton High School Pirate football team in Belton, Missouri.

After coaching at Belton High School for four seasons, Williams was hired in 1988 as an assistant coach at the University of Houston under former Washington Redskins head coach, Jack Pardee.

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.

Previously, he was head coach of the Buffalo Bills from 2001 to 2003, and defensive coordinator of the New Orleans Saints (with whom he won Super Bowl XLIV) from 2009 to 2011, and the Cleveland Browns, acting as an interim head coach in the 2018 season.

Williams is known for running aggressive, attacking 4–3 schemes that put heavy pressure on opposing quarterbacks and for his key role in the New Orleans Saints bounty scandal, also known as "Bountygate".

Williams joined the Buffalo Bills as head coach in 2001 along with new team President and general manager Tom Donahoe.

After three seasons in which the team compiled records of 3–13, 8–8, and 6–10 under his leadership, Williams' contract was not renewed after the 2003 season.

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 2004, Williams helped create a charity, the "Gregg Williams Foundation", that benefits the local schools and community in his hometown of Excelsior Springs, Missouri.

The charity has contributed over $2,000,000 since 2004 to benefit the Excelsior Springs community.

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 one 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 December 2, 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 offensive coordinator Al Saunders, with Jim Zorn ultimately getting the job.

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.

He took over a Saints defense ranked 23rd in the NFL in yards allowed and tied for 26th in points allowed in 2008.

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.

In March 2012, Williams was suspended indefinitely from the NFL as a result of his admitted involvement in the New Orleans Saints bounty scandal, under which bounties were paid for causing injuries that would take targeted players on opposing teams out of games.

Williams' suspension was lifted a year later, and he returned to the NFL.

Williams was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2016.

He recently served as the defensive coordinator for the New York Jets of the National Football League (NFL) from 2019 to 2020.