“That’s why a lot of coaches want to coach it.” “The best part of football is being a player,” Williams said. I just think that’s super cool, to be honest with you.”įor a player who showed as much tenacity as Williams did during his time at Auburn - when he ran for 3,831 yards across four seasons, the second-most in program history, and broke Bo Jackson’s career rushing touchdown record - it’s not surprising he’d want to recapture that feeling.Īt the end of the day, Williams said, that’s what most coaches are striving for. “I go into a place as if I’m playing the game of football. For me to be in this leadership role, it’s amazing. But a lot of times you have to respect authority and not do too much. Not saying I (don’t) enjoy being an assistant coach, because Lord knows, that’s fulfilling. I get the same feeling as I did a decade ago, when I was playing the game - I get that same feeling as being a head coach. “As a head coach, I actually feel like I’m playing the game,” Williams responded on Wednesday’s SEC coaches teleconference. He’s loved every second of it.īut what’s been the most surprising part of being a head coach - something he didn’t anticipate when he was elevated to the interim spot just hours after Harsin was fired? It’s an understatement to say this has been a whirlwind for Williams, who joined Auburn’s staff as running backs coach in 2019 as his first Division-I job. In fact, Williams said Wednesday he met with the team last week to address that “elephant in the room,” but he asked the Tigers to join him in enjoying their time together as a team right now, and that when changes are eventually made, he will be there to support each and every one of them. Williams is still keeping his tunnel vision - he parried a question about next week’s Iron Bowl on Wednesday, affirming that he’s completely locked in on Western Kentucky right now - and he continues to relay that he’s not thinking about what happens next Auburn with the next head coach, who will presumably be hired at the conclusion of the regular season. Things have settled down over the past week, though the emotional win Saturday obviously didn’t hurt. Despite the matchup between the two worst teams in the division, Auburn’s 13-10 win over Texas A&M felt like a championship game, a few players said afterwards.įor Williams, the first few days on the job included a lot of bustling around with a reshuffled coaching staff - with all five on-field offensive assistants put in new roles - and nights with very little sleep, as he and his staff attempted to salvage a strong game plan for Mississippi State after Harsin’s ouster put the Tigers “behind the 8-ball.” It was evident over the weekend, when a packed Jordan-Hare Stadium went crazy, as Williams instructed in the pregame hype video, and served as an electric backdrop for Auburn’s first week since Week 4. Now in his third week as Auburn’s interim head coach, following the removal of Bryan Harsin on Halloween, Williams and his efforts - successful ones, at that - to rejuvenate a losing season with life and energy have been met with praise from Auburn fans and beyond.
Then he paused, and resumed: “But I am enjoying this thing.”
“I honestly never had any true aspirations to be a head coach at all,” Williams said. Cadillac Williams rattled off almost every coach he’s worked under since entering the industry as an assistant at Henderson State just seven years ago.Īsk any of them, he said, and they’ll back up Williams’ claim that his long-term goal in the profession has never been a head-coaching gig.
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