General Manager Bruce Allen continues to make his mark on this new era for the Washington Redskins. The team announced this week that a former quarterback for the team, Doug Williams, has been named Personnel Executive. The reunion of former Tampa Bay personnel continues. Williams was with the Buccaneers during the same time that Allen and new Redskins head coach Jay Gruden were there.
The hiring is a as good a public relations move as it is a good personnel move because Williams is one of the most celebrated athletes in franchise history. Not only is he a member of the 80 Greatest Redskins and a Redskins Ring-of-Famer, he played with the Redskins from 1986-89 and led the team to a Super Bowl XXII title and a 42-10 rout of the Denver Broncos (can you say ‘karma?’). Williams is the first African-American quarterback to play in a Super Bowl and he completed 18-of-29 passes for 340 yards with four touchdown passes during that game. That performance earned him Super Bowl MVP honors.
“It’s great to be home again,” Williams said of the announcement. “It also is great to be affiliated with a GM and coach who are so focused and dedicated to winning. I have only one mission: to help this team obtain the talent it needs so the fans can experience the Super Bowl they deserve.”
Williams, 58, has been involved with the National Football League in some way, shape or form for 17 years. He played for nine seasons beginning with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1978-82), the Oklahoma and Arizona (formerly Wranglers) Outlaws in the USFL (1984-85) and — his most notable term in the NFL — the Washington Redskins from 1986-89, during which he helped take the team to the Super Bowl under Hall of Fame head coach Joe Gibbs.
Williams has spent the last eight years of his NFL career in various scouting or personnel roles with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. From 2004-08 he was their Personnel Executive and then in 2009 he was named the team’s Director of Pro Personnel.
“We are focused on finding people with genuine football insight and a passion for winning,” Executive Vice President/General Manager Bruce Allen said. “As a player, coach and scout, Doug has seen it all and done it all, and we believe he has an incredible talent for identifying the type of players we want with the Redskins.”
Williams’ background also includes two separate stints as head coach at his alma mater, Grambling State University, from 1998-2003 and then again from 2011-13. He compiled a 61-34 (.642) record there while leading the Tigers to four Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) championships, three Black College National Championships from 2000-02 and three 10-win seasons.
While Williams attended Grambling State, he had a spectacular career there as their quarterback from 1974-77. He passed for more than 8,000 yards and 93 touchdowns, leading the Tigers to three Black College National Championships and two SWAC titles. He posted a 36-7 record while starting and finished fourth in voting for the 1977 Heisman Trophy.
And one more little known but noteworthy fact: the former Redskins QB was the running backs coach at the U.S. Naval Academy in 1994.
Williams is a native of Zachary, La.
Hail.