The road back Where Doug Williams has been in the years since he last wore a Bucs uniform
in 1982:
[Times photo: Bill Serne]
1984-85: Quarterback, USFL's Oklahoma/Arizona Outlaws. 1986-89: Quarterback, Washington Redskins 1991-93: High school coach in Louisiana 1994: Running backs coach, Navy 1995: Offensive coordinator, World League's Scottish Claymores 1995-96: Scout, Jacksonville Jaguars 1997: Head coach, Morehouse College 1998-2003: Head coach, Grambling State University Main story Gary Shelton: One Buc's place Visit our guestbook Career flourishes despite setbacks Players, past and present, like move Online poll
TAMPA - It took three steps. It took four words. It took one smile.
Only that, and Doug Williams owned the place.
Again.
He stood in the front of the room, a little older, a little heavier, and the years peeled away. He told his stories, and he cracked his jokes, and once more, it was 1978. If Williams had picked up a football and charged out of the locker room, by golly, his old teammates in the audience would have followed him onto the field.
Doug Williams is a Buc again.
Just like always, the Bucs are better off for it.
Williams, the original proprietor of the Tampa Bay locker room, the first casualty of an owner's preference for money over memories, came home Thursday. You should have seen him work the room. He was honest, confident, funny, nostalgic, insightful. He was a man back in his proper place, and a quarter of a century later, thank goodness, the Bucs are finally smart enough to realize it.
Before you ask, yeah, it's a real job. Can you imagine being the guy who would offer him any less?
No, Williams wasn't hired for the P.R. punch of the announcement. No, he isn't a trophy hire, the way Dan Marino was during his return, and rapid exit, with the Dolphins.
"I don't think I've been fortunate enough to get anything that someone has just given to me," Williams said. "I think I've earned every opportunity I've had."
Maybe it's an easy mistake to make. Williams didn't have Marino's career, but around here, only Lee Roy Selmon is a bigger icon. For a team that always has struggled to embrace what little tradition it has, for a team that has looked fairly clumsy over the past few months, Williams was a rare feel-good day.
For Williams, however, this is a chance to break back into the NFL. The job has the vague label of "personnel executive." Basically, it means Williams gets to watch tape until his eyes bleed, gets to rank pro players you've never heard of and gets to help recruit free agents to come to a team that has limited cap resources.
No, Marino wasn't scheduled to do any of that.
That's the thing to remember about Williams. His road always has been more difficult than most, bumpier and dustier. A lot of former players who want to coach can find a job. Ask yourself: How many former Super Bowl MVPs have had to coach high school football, work as a scout, work in the World League and coach two college teams before getting a job in the NFL?
"I don't think Dan Marino ever coached high school football," Williams said. "You're talking about two different individuals. Dan has a better golf swing than I do."
Put it this way: If it weren't for a real job, for a real opportunity, do you think for a second that Williams would have left his beloved Grambling? He had been 52-18 there over six seasons. He wasn't exactly knocking at the NFL's door for a job.
No, this isn't the job most of us would have envisioned for Williams in the NFL. We would have seen him as a quarterbacks coach, maybe an offensive coordinator. Richard "Batman" Wood, Williams' old teammate, says he always envisioned Williams as a head coach in the league.
Now, if you squint five years into the future, maybe you can imagine Williams as a general manager. After all, for minorities, front-office representation is one of the next goals.
"That could happen down the line," Williams said. "If I learn what I can, if I do a good job, that could happen."
Williams always has meant a great deal to Bucs fans. Of the Bucs' first 36 victories as a franchise, he was the starting quarterback in 33. He took Tampa Bay to three playoff appearances in four seasons. After he left, the next 14 years can be remembered largely as the sound of a toilet gurgling.
What did Williams mean to Tampa Bay? He meant hope. He meant faith. He meant the flies were going to get to Jon Gruden.
Gruden tells the story. It was 1982, and the Bucs were playing in their last game of the season against Chicago. If they won, they made the playoffs, and Jim Gruden, an assistant coach and Jon's dad, had promised to screen in the porch.
Williams passed for 367 yards that day and led the Bucs back from a 23-6 deficit. Late in the game, however, he fumbled when sacked. Bears defensive lineman Steve McMichael picked up the ball and began to run for the goal. Williams, who was playing with a pulled hamstring, rose from the turf and chased down McMichael, tackling him inside the 5-yard line. The defense held, and the Bucs won in overtime.
"I've never seen a guy take control of a team like Doug Williams," Gruden said. "He's a Hall of Fame, blue-chip man. When he left, my dad got fired, a lot of people's dads got fired. We couldn't replace him. Not with Jack Thompson, not with Chris Chandler."
For most of us, Williams' return was a long time in coming. After spending two seasons in the USFL, the Bucs traded away his rights for a fifth-round draft pick.
In 1996, the Bucs lost another chance. New Bucs coach Tony Dungy wanted to make Williams his first quarterbacks coach, but offensive coordinator Mike Shula wouldn't hear of it. Shula insisted on being the quarterbacks coach. Not only that, Shula wouldn't consider Williams for the open positions of running backs coach or receivers coach.
On Thursday, the Bucs finally found a place for Williams. For all the rough road, for all the dues paid, it felt like a journey completed.
"There ain't no fake to Doug Williams," Jimmie Giles, Williams' old tight end, said. "Every word that comes out of his mouth is the truth. He doesn't give you a lot of back talk. There is no slipping and sliding around. He's going to tell you how things are all of the time."
For Williams, that's a good place for a start. Or, in this case, a restart.
After all, if the Bucs have learned anything, it is this: They're better off with Williams than without him.
