When word emerged that Virginia Destroyers coach Jay Gruden was on the Panthers’ radar as a candidate for quarterbacks coach, Destroyers G.M. Doug Williams mused that, if Gruden leaves, Williams may replace him.
“If he gets it, maybe I’ll have to come down and get back to coaching,” Williams said in January.
Gruden has since left for the Bengals, and Williams will now indeed get back into coaching. But not with the Destroyers or any other UFL team. Williams will return to Grambling as head coach, where his son plays football.
Williams joined the Destroyers last June. Originally slated to be an expansion team in 2011, the league moved the Florida Tuskers to Virginia after the 2010 season and ultimately tabled expansion plans.
“I was looking forward to working with the Destroyers, but this is a great opportunity for me and it is very rare that a father gets to coach his son at the college football level,” Williams said. “ I went to school there, I coached there, and now I have a great opportunity to coach there again.
“I will keep tabs on the Destroyers and know they are going to do well. They have a great fan base in an area that is a football hotbed and the UFL will succeed there.”
Williams was a standout quarterback for the Buccaneers, leading them to the brink of the Super Bowl in only their fourth season. Eight years later, Williams led the Redskins to an unexpected Super Bowl win to cap the 1987 strike season, which was shortened to 15 games and included three played with replacements.
He first became coach at Grambling in 1997, succeeding the legendary Eddie Robinson. Williams later left the Tigers to join the front office of the Buccaneers.