HBCU Legend Doug Williams 'Feels Good To Be Respected' As The Washington Commanders Promotes Him To Senior Advisor (2024)

HOUSTON — The Washington Commanders have made a significant move by promoting HBCU and NFL football legend Doug Williams. He now holds the position of senior advisor to the general manager, while Chris White has been appointed as the director of pro scouting.

"It feels good to be around people who respect you," Williams told HBCU Legends. "This is a great regime in Washington."

Williams, 68, has been with Washington since 2014 when he accepted the team's personnel executive role. He became the senior vice president of player personnel from 2017-2019 and was elevated to the senior vice president of player development in 2020. Commanders team president Jason Wright promoted him to his senior advisor in 2021.

Doug Williams has spent most of his life in football. A native of Zachary, Louisiana, he chose to play for the legendary football coach Eddie Robinson at Grambling State University. Under Robinson's tutelage, Williams became one of the most dynamic football players in the nation.

A little-known pro scout for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, named Joe Gibbs, was sent to Grambling, Louisiana, to meet Williams before the NFL Draft. He recommended to the Bucs' head coach, John McKay, that the team select the Grambling State quarterback as the 17th overall pick in the first round of the 1978 NFL Draft.

The rest was history when Tampa Bay selected him as the first black quarterback in the first round of the modern-day NFL draft. Tennessee State's Eldridge Dickey was the first black signal-caller chosen by the then-Oakland Raiders in the first round of the 1968 AFL Draft.

Williams led Tampa Bay to the 1979 NFC Championship Game. After contract negotiations fell through with owner Hugh Culverhouse, he sat out a season. In 1984, he joined the Oklahoma Outlaws in the USFL for two seasons. Then a familiar name called him back to the NFL - Joe Gibbs.

The Washington head coach reunited with Williams to become Jay Schroeder's backup. He later led the club to win Super Bowl XXII and was named MVP. Williams has his name in the Washington Ring of Fame and Tampa Bay Ring of Honor. He is also a member of the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame (1993), Washington D.C. Hall of Fame, and Black College Football Hall of Fame.

Morehouse College hired Doug Williams as its head football coach in 1997. After he led the Maroon Tigers, his alma mater - Grambling State University - named him the Tigers' new head coach in 1998. The G-Men won two black college football national championships under Williams in 2000 and 2001. His teams won four SWAC championships (2000–2002, 2011), and he was named the SWAC Coach of the Year (2000-2002) three times.

Doug Williams and James "Shack" Harris founded the Black College Football Hall of Fame in 2009. In 2022, the HBCU and NFL legends also founded the HBCU Legacy Bowl and played three times at Yulman Stadium on Tulane University's campus in New Orleans, Louisiana. The all-star game is the current host of the NFL's HBCU Combine.