 Williams in 2021 | |||||||||||||||
| Washington Commanders | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Title | Senior advisor to the general manager | ||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
| Born | (1955-08-09)August 9, 1955 (age 70) Zachary, Louisiana, U.S. | ||||||||||||||
| Height | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | ||||||||||||||
| Weight | 220 lb (100 kg) | ||||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||||
| High school | Chaneyville (Zachary) | ||||||||||||||
| College | Grambling State (1974–1977) | ||||||||||||||
| NFL draft | 1978: 1st round, 17th overall pick | ||||||||||||||
| Position | Quarterback, No. 17, 12 | ||||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||||
Playing | |||||||||||||||
Coaching | |||||||||||||||
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Operations | |||||||||||||||
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| Awards and highlights | |||||||||||||||
Playing
Coaching
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| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||||||
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| Head coaching record | |||||||||||||||
| Career | 64–42 (.604) | ||||||||||||||
Douglas Lee Williams (born August 9, 1955) is an American professionalfootball executive and formerquarterback and coach who is a senior advisor for theWashington Commanders of theNational Football League (NFL). Williams was the firstblack quarterback to both start and win aSuper Bowl, doing so with Washington inSuper Bowl XXII when they were known as the Redskins. He was namedSuper Bowl MVP after throwing four touchdowns in a single quarter.
Following his playing career, Williams began coaching, most notably serving as the head coach of theGrambling State Tigers. Following that, Williams has been a team executive for theTampa Bay Buccaneers,Virginia Destroyers, and Commanders.
Williams played quarterback for theGrambling State Tigers from 1974 to 1977. In his first two seasons, he played on the same team as future NFL receiverSammy White. Williams guided the Tigers to a 36–7 (.837 winning percentage) record as a four-year starter, and led the Tigers to threeSouthwestern Athletic Conference Championships. Williams was named Black College Player of the Year twice.[2]
In 1977, Williams led theNCAA in several categories, including total yards from scrimmage (3,249), passing yards (3,286), touchdown passes (38), and yards per play (8.6).[3] Williams finished fourth in theHeisman Trophy voting, behindEarl Campbell,Terry Miller, andKen MacAfee.[4] Williams graduated from Grambling with a bachelor's degree in education, and began student teaching while working on his master's degree before the1978 NFL draft.[5]
Despite the success that he enjoyed on the field,Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinatorJoe Gibbs was the only NFL coach who visited Williams to work him out and scout him. Gibbs spent two days with the 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m), 220 lb (100 kg) quarterback, reviewing play books, film, and going through passing drills. Impressed by his poise, work ethic, and studious nature, Gibbs rated Williams as the best quarterback in the draft,[6] writing in his scouting report that Williams had "a big-time arm with perfect passing mechanics" and was "a natural leader...very academic and extremely prepared...football smart," and recommended that the Buccaneers select Williams with their first-round draft choice.[7]
Following the recommendation of Gibbs, Tampa Bay drafted Williams in the first round (17th overall) of the1978 NFL draft. Williams became the first African-American quarterback taken in the first round of an NFL draft.[8] His first preseason pass, a 75-yard incompletion that sailed 10 yards past receiverIsaac Hagins, drew a standing ovation from the Tampa Stadium crowd. He was the first quarterback in Buccaneer history capable of throwing long passes downfield.[9] In a 1979 game against theChicago Bears, Williams and Bears quarterbackVince Evans made history by making it the first NFL game ever to have a black starting quarterback on both teams.[10] Tampa Bay, which had won just two games in the first two years of the franchise, went to the playoffs three times in five seasons with Williams as starter and played in the1979 NFC Championship game. During his time in Tampa Bay, Williams improved his completion percentage each season.[11]
Williams was the only starting African-American quarterback in the NFL at that time, and dealt with racism from the fans, and even his own coaching staff. In his bookRise of the Black QB, author Jason Reid cited an incident in the1978 Tampa Bay training camp, in which quarterbacks coachBill Nelsen began berating Williams in what was described as going beyond coaching and becoming a personal attack. "I think Coach Gibbs knew that it wasn't a matter of being coached hard," recalled Williams. "I mean, I played forEddie Robinson at Grambling, so heknew I could handle that. But he (Gibbs) immediately sensed that something else was going on."[12] Gibbs, who was at the opposite end of the field, sprinted over to Nelsen and confronted him. Gibbs threw his clipboard down, pointed his finger in Nelsen's face and said, "Don't you ever talk to him like that again! Is that clear?" According to Williams, Nelsen never confronted Williams in that manner again.[13]
During his tenure with the Buccaneers, Williams was paid $120,000 a year, the lowest salary for a starting quarterback in the league and less than the salary of 12 backups. After the 1982 season, Williams asked for a $600,000 contract. Bucs ownerHugh Culverhouse refused to budge from his initial offer of $400,000 despite protests from coachJohn McKay. Feeling that Culverhouse was not paying him what an NFL starter should earn, Williams sat out the 1983 season.[5][14] That year, the Bucs went 2–14, and did not make the playoffs again until the1997 season 14 years later. Tampa Bay lost ten games in every season but one in that stretch, including 12 in a row from 1983 to 1994. Culverhouse's willingness to let Williams walk away over such a relatively small amount of money was seen as insensitive, especially as it came only months after Williams' wife Janice died of an aneurysm.[15][14]
After a year away from football, Williams signed with the Oklahoma Outlaws of the upstartUnited States Football League. The Outlaws briefly called Hall of Fame coach and quarterback guruSid Gillman out of retirement as director of football operations, and Williams was Gillman's highest-profile signing. Williams signed a $3 million contract with a $1 million signing bonus, making him easily one of the highest-paid players in all of football. Years later, he recalled that he was won over when Outlaws owners William Tatham Sr. and Bill Tatham Jr. "treated me as a human," rather than "a piece of cattle in a stockyard."[16]
In 1984, Williams led the Outlaws of the USFL in passing, completing 261 out of 528 passes for 3,084 yards and 15 touchdowns. However, he threw 21 interceptions, ending up with a passer rating of 60.5 during a 6–12 season. In 1985, the team moved to Arizona and merged with theArizona Wranglers to become theArizona Outlaws.[14] Williams showed some improvement, completing 271 out of 509 passes for 3,673 yards with 21 touchdowns and 17 interceptions.
After the USFL was shut down in 1986, Williams returned to the NFL, joining theWashington Redskins. He was reunited with his former offensive coordinator,Joe Gibbs, who was now the team's head coach. Initially, Williams served as the backup for starting quarterbackJay Schroeder, but after Schroeder got injured, Williams stepped in and led the Redskins to an opening-day victory againstthe Philadelphia Eagles in the 1987 season. Williams and Schroeder had a somewhat chilly relationship, stemming from Schroeder ordering Williams to get off the field when the Redskins thought Schroeder had been injured in the1986 NFC title game and sent Williams in to substitute for him. It would be one of three times in 1987 that Williams substituted for Schroeder and led the team to victory (the other two were November 15 against Detroit and December 26 at Minnesota). Williams only started two games, September 20 at Atlanta and November 23 against the Rams. While both starts were losses, at the end of the season, when the Redskins had qualified for the playoffs, Williams, with his 94.0 passer rating, was chosen as the starter. He led the team toSuper Bowl XXII in which they routed theDenver Broncos, becoming the first black quarterback to both play in and win aSuper Bowl.[17][18][19]
"I get this phone call from Coach Gibbs. He was the only guy who called me Douglas. 'Douglas, it's Coach Gibbs," he said. 'How you doing?" He asked me to come to Washington to be a backup. Now at this point, I don't have a job. I told him, 'Coach, I can be any type of 'up' you want me to be.' He started laughing. He said, 'OK. [Washington general manager]Bobby Beathard is going to give you a call.' Bobby called. We agreed [to terms]."
According to legend, Williams was asked this question on Media Day: "How long have you been a black quarterback?" He supposedly replied, "I've been a quarterback since high school, and I've been black all my life." On February 1, 2013, Williams was interviewed on theBoomer and Carton show, and he was asked by the hostCraig Carton if the question ever happened. He replied that it was true. Williams said he thought the reporter was a little nervous and the question may have come out the wrong way and that no ill will was meant towards him.[21][22][23]
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On the day beforeSuper Bowl XXII, Williams had a six-hourroot canal surgery performed to repair a dental bridge abscess.[24] On January 31, 1988, he engineered a 42–10 rout over the Broncos, who were led by quarterbackJohn Elway. Williams completed 18 of 29 passes for 340 yards with four touchdown passes.[25] All four touchdowns were thrown in the second quarter, which set a Super Bowl record for most touchdowns thrown in a single half, let alone a quarter. It was part of a 35-point second quarter that put the game out of reach.[26] He was namedSuper Bowl MVP for his efforts, making him the first African-American quarterback to both win a Super Bowl and be named its MVP.[27] He broke the Super Bowl single-game record of 331 passing yards set in1985 byJoe Montana,[25] who broke Williams' recordthe following year with 357.[28] Williams tied the Super Bowl single-game record for passing touchdowns set byTerry Bradshaw in1979, which Montana surpassed with five inSuper Bowl XXIV.[29][30] Williams' 80-yard scoring pass toRicky Sanders tied the Super Bowl record for the longest pass, set byJim Plunkett's throw toKenny King in1981; it was broken in1997 byBrett Favre's 81-yard pass toAntonio Freeman for the longest Super Bowlplay from scrimmage.[31][32]
Williams suffered from injuries the following season and was outplayed byMark Rypien, who eventually won the starting job. Despite competing for the same starting job, Williams and Rypien were so supportive of each other that T-shirts were sold with the caption "United We Stand", depicting the two quarterbacks as cartoon characters with Williams saying "I'm for Mark" and Rypien saying "I'm for Doug".[33] Williams would play one final season in1989, as Rypien's backup, during the latter's firstPro Bowl season.[5][34]
Finances played a large part in Williams' departure from the Redskins, with Williams slated to make $1 million in 1990 as the team's backup quarterback.[8] The Redskins were able to sign formerNew York Giants quarterbackJeff Rutledge for the backup role for substantially less money, making Williams expendable.[8] Williams received scant attention from other teams following his waiver by the Redskins – a situation which he flatly attributed to racism.[8] Williams retired with a 5–9 record as Redskins starter (8–9, counting playoffs) and a 38–42–1 record as a regular season starter (42–45–1, including 7 playoff starts). He had 100 passing touchdowns and 15 rushing touchdowns in 88 NFL games.[11]
Following his departure from the NFL, Williams worked on television in 1990 as a college football analyst forBlack Entertainment Television (BET).[8] Despite enjoying the change of pace, Williams longed to return to football and when a high school head coaching position opened up in 1991 at the newPointe Coupee Central High School in the unincorporated Labarre area ofPointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana, Williams applied for the job and was hired for the position.[8] Williams led the 35-player team to a 5–5 record in the season, including an upset of the second-ranked school in the state.[8]
In 1992, Williams was able to move on to coach at his former high school in Zachary, now renamedNortheast High.[8] Playing its home games on a field bearing his name, Williams was able to lead the team to an undefeated regular season, finally falling in the state semi-finals.[8] During the 1993 Louisiana HS playoffs, his team notably knocked outIsidore Newman High School, then led by senior quarterbackPeyton Manning.[35]
Williams moved to the collegiate coaching ranks in 1994, when he was hired as the running backs coach for the football team of theUnited States Naval Academy inAnnapolis, Maryland.[8] He worked as offensive coordinator for theScottish Claymores of theWorld League of American Football early in 1995 and as a scout for the NFL'sJacksonville Jaguars during the1995 NFL season.[35]
Williams began his collegiate head coaching career atMorehouse College in 1997. He was named the head football coach atGrambling State University in 1998, succeeding the legendaryEddie Robinson. He led the Tigers to three consecutiveSouthwestern Athletic Conference titles from 2000 to 2002, before leaving to rejoin the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as a personnel executive.[36]
At the conclusion ofSuper Bowl XLII, on the 20th anniversary of being namedSuper Bowl XXII MVP, Williams carried the Vince Lombardi trophy on to the field for presentation to the winning New York Giants. Williams was named the director of professional scouting for theTampa Bay Buccaneers in February 2009.[37] He was relieved of this position on May 11, 2010.[38]
Williams was subsequently hired asgeneral manager of theNorfolk expansion franchise in theUnited Football League, now known as theVirginia Destroyers. On February 21, 2011, Williams resigned from the Destroyers to begin his second stint as the head football coach atGrambling State University. He was fired from this position on September 11, 2013.[39]
In February 2014, Williams rejoined the Redskins as a personnel executive. The hiring marked Williams' return to the Redskins.[40] Williams was promoted to the position of Senior Vice President of Player Personnel in June 2017.[41][42] In 2020, following a front office restructure after the hiring ofRon Rivera as head coach, Williams was named the team's senior vice president of player development.[43] The following year he became a senior advisor to team presidentJason Wright.[44]
| Year | Team | Games | Passing | Rushing | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Cmp | Att | Pct | Yds | Avg | TD | Int | Rtg | Att | Yds | Avg | TD | ||
| 1984 | Oklahoma Outlaws | 15 | 15 | 261 | 528 | 49.4 | 3,084 | 5.8 | 15 | 21 | 60.5 | 30 | 75 | 2.5 | 3 |
| 1985 | Arizona Outlaws | 17 | 17 | 271 | 509 | 53.2 | 3,673 | 7.2 | 21 | 17 | 76.4 | 27 | 82 | 3.0 | 1 |
| Career | 32 | 32 | 532 | 1,037 | 51.3 | 6,757 | 6.5 | 36 | 38 | 68.3 | 57 | 157 | 2.8 | 4 | |
| Legend | |
|---|---|
| Super Bowl MVP | |
| Won theSuper Bowl | |
| Bold | Career high |
| Year | Team | Games | Passing | Rushing | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Record | Cmp | Att | Pct | Yds | Avg | TD | Int | Rtg | Att | Yds | Avg | TD | ||
| 1978 | TB | 10 | 10 | 4–6 | 73 | 194 | 37.6 | 1,170 | 6.0 | 7 | 8 | 53.4 | 27 | 23 | 0.9 | 1 |
| 1979 | TB | 16 | 16 | 10–6 | 166 | 397 | 41.8 | 2,448 | 6.2 | 18 | 24 | 52.5 | 35 | 119 | 3.4 | 2 |
| 1980 | TB | 16 | 16 | 5–10–1 | 254 | 521 | 48.8 | 3,396 | 6.5 | 20 | 16 | 69.9 | 58 | 370 | 6.4 | 4 |
| 1981 | TB | 16 | 16 | 9–7 | 238 | 471 | 50.5 | 3,563 | 7.6 | 19 | 14 | 76.8 | 48 | 209 | 4.4 | 4 |
| 1982 | TB | 9 | 9 | 5–4 | 164 | 307 | 53.4 | 2,071 | 6.7 | 9 | 11 | 69.6 | 35 | 158 | 4.5 | 2 |
| 1986 | WAS | 1 | 0 | – | 0 | 1 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 39.6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1987 | WAS | 5 | 2 | 0–2 | 81 | 143 | 56.6 | 1,156 | 8.1 | 11 | 5 | 94.0 | 7 | 9 | 1.3 | 1 |
| 1988 | WAS | 11 | 10 | 4–6 | 213 | 380 | 56.1 | 2,609 | 6.9 | 15 | 12 | 77.4 | 9 | 0 | 0.0 | 1 |
| 1989 | WAS | 4 | 2 | 1–1 | 51 | 93 | 54.8 | 585 | 6.3 | 1 | 3 | 64.1 | 1 | -4 | -4.0 | 0 |
| Career | 88 | 81 | 38–42–1 | 1,240 | 2,507 | 49.5 | 16,998 | 6.8 | 100 | 93 | 69.4 | 220 | 884 | 4.0 | 15 | |
Williams was born inZachary, Louisiana, a town of about 8,000 people located nearBaton Rouge.[8] Williams' first wife, Janice (Goss), died of a brain tumor in 1983 at age 26. They had one child together, Ashley Monique. His second wife was Lisa Robinson, whom he married in 1987. They had one son together, Adrian. Williams married his third wife, Raunda in 2005. Together, they had 6 children: Jasmine,D. J., Lee, Temessia, Laura and Carmaleta. His sons Adrian and D.J. are both accomplished collegiate athletes. Adrian played basketball forBrown University until graduating after the 2010–11 season[45] while D.J. signed to play for his father atGrambling State University. His daughter Laura has committed to playing basketball atUniversity of Southern California for the 2024–2025 season.[46] Doug's nephewJohnny Huggins also played in the NFL.[47]
In 2009, Williams and fellow Grambling State alumnusJames Harris co-founded theBlack College Football Hall of Fame. Each year, several notable football players from historically black colleges and universities are entered in its hall of fame at an induction ceremony inAtlanta.[48] In July 2019, Grambling State honored Williams by naming a street in his honor on the college's campus.[49]
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | TSN# | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Morehouse Maroon Tigers(Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference)(1997) | |||||||||
| 1997 | Morehouse | 3–8 | 0–6 | 10th | |||||
| Morehouse: | 3–8 | 0–6 | |||||||
| Grambling State Tigers(Southwestern Athletic Conference)(1998–2003) | |||||||||
| 1998 | Grambling State | 5–6 | 4–4 | T–4th | |||||
| 1999 | Grambling State | 7–4 | 2–2 | 3rd(West) | |||||
| 2000 | Grambling State | 10–2 | 6–1 | 1st(West) | 13 | ||||
| 2001 | Grambling State | 10–1 | 6–1 | 1st(West) | 8 | ||||
| 2002 | Grambling State | 11–2 | 6–1 | 1st(West) | 8 | ||||
| 2003 | Grambling State | 9–3 | 6–1 | T–1st(West) | 17 | ||||
| Grambling State Tigers(Southwestern Athletic Conference)(2011–2013) | |||||||||
| 2011 | Grambling State | 8–4 | 6–3 | 1st(West) | |||||
| 2012 | Grambling State | 1–10 | 0–9 | 5th(West) | |||||
| 2013 | Grambling State | 0–2* | 0–1* | ||||||
| Grambling State: | 61–34 | 36–23 | |||||||
| Total: | 64–42 | ||||||||
| National championship Conference title Conference division title or championship game berth | |||||||||
*Williams was fired on September 11, 2013.
Williams remains significant in NFL history for being both the first black quarterback to play in and to win a Super Bowl.
| International | |
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| National | |
| Other | |
