The road back to Nashville for former Titans defensive coordinator Gregg Williams

The road back to Nashville for former Titans defensive coordinator Gregg Williams originally appeared on The Sporting News

“It’s great to be back here in Nashville.”

Gregg Williams, standing on the Nissan Stadium artificial grass, staring out at the other end of the field as he prepares to coach a game as the defensive coordinator of the Tennessee State University Tigers, has become a standard sight before Tennessee State games. And he is loving every minute of being with these kids.

“The big thing is that we will never ever apologize for competing and we will never ever apologize for winning. But these young men want to be the best that they can be and it has been extremely joyful for how hard they have worked. They have come light years since I came here in April for spring ball.”

Williams has been here before on this field and on these sidelines. Over 25 years ago, Williams was the defensive coordinator of the Tennessee Titans in the stadium where he is now coaching college football.

“It was an unbelievable feeling back in 1999 because we got here in 1997. In 1997, we practiced at TSU down on the lower field. The next year, we practiced at a bankrupt mall in Bellevue on a recreational soccer field. And then in 1999, everything got built up and ready to go, and it was impressive as all getout.”

Williams was the defensive coordinator on the 1999 Tennessee Titans team that went to the Super Bowl, where they fell to the St. Louis Rams 23-16. Williams' defense that season was known for being opportunistic, as they were fourth in turnovers forced that year on their way to their magical Super Bowl run. The following season, Williams was the architect of one of the greatest defenses in NFL history. The Titans were first in total defense and pass defense that season, while also ranking second in scoring defense and third in rushing defense. They were thought to be headed for another Super Bowl run, and many had them as favorites. However, the Baltimore Ravens, led by linebacker Ray Lewis and their defense, would not be denied, as they beat the Titans, securing another step on what was to be a journey to victory in the Super Bowl.

The work Williams did with the defense earned him attention across the NFL, and eventually, on Feb. 2, 2001, Williams was announced as the new head coach of the Buffalo Bills. Reflecting back, Williams remembers the emotional pull that leaving Nashville had:  

“It was tough, very tough.”

Williams’ journey to ten different cities in the NFL began much before the Titans got to Tennessee, but it ended in 2020 after being let go by the New York Jets. However, in 2023, he received a call to return to coaching, and it came from Reggie Barlow, a former Jacksonville Jaguars kick returner with whom Williams was familiar.

“Reggie was with the Jacksonville Jaguars playing for Tom Coughlin when I was here with the Tennessee Titans and in that year, 1999, the Jacksonville Jaguars went 15-3 and I tell Reggie all the time the three losses you had back then were all against Tennessee. And we went to the Super Bowl and we did not.”

Williams jokes with Barlow about those times, but without Barlow, there may not have been another journey for Williams.

“I had great respect for him as a player and what I had been doing, like scouts do, is that I don’t think people do enough research on behind the scenes about coaches, about trainers, about secretaries,  about operations,  field crew, equipment managers. So, I had been tracking him. He was very successful in coaching in college and then we have had a relationship for many years. I had stepped away from coaching for a while and was around the family and he gave me a call and said, ‘ Hey. You want to do this?’ I said, ‘With you, I will. I think it would be great’”.

Williams would join the DC Defenders and coach their defense under Barlow until March 2025. Barlow decided to take the job as the head coach of Tennessee State University. And with him, he wanted to bring his staff, which included Williams.

“We started this thing and then when he was interviewing at TSU, he said, ‘Are you going to go with me?’ I said, ‘I will be going with you because that is a great place to live and a great city to be in and I want to be around people who know what we do and you are a great head coach and you can put up with all the politicizing. Just let me coach.’”

Returning to Nashville years after his first visit, Williams noticed something that caught his eye, and along with that, the city’s changes were eye-catching, as were the aspects of the city he liked.

“It is amazing to me how much Nashville has changed and grown and gotten bigger and bigger and bigger. I came back here in 2013 and helped Mike Munchak for a year and Jerry Gray was the defensive coordinator. I came into town to help them and when I came into town, the Gulch was hardly anything at all and now when I look at all over the metropolitan area, it is amazing how much it has grown. But there are good people and I love the people and how they are raised.  And It has been just a really good fit for me at this point in time in my life to come here to help these young men to be the best they can be.”

So, that first time, he was on the field again, memories started matriculating to his brain. However, along with the memories, it also allowed Williams to reconnect with people from his past.

“Some of the greatest times in your life are the memories that you have. I had great memories about being in that stadium and there are still several people that work there that remember me and they were very happy the first time I walked in there for a game. It was fun to get back to reconnect with them. And now back into a stadium where we won a ton of games. Things were somewhat different in certain parts of it, but it brought back a great feeling in my life.”

Along with the memories and reconnecting with people, the move back to Nashville has also allowed Williams to reconnect with some of his old players.

“There is a good 60-100 players that were very excited that I was coming back into this area. A bunch of them still live in this area and having great careers in some of the things that they are doing. And we have had a couple of alumni meetings. They take tremendous pride in roasting me. They do everything they can to piss me off and if I don't act pissed off because they are teasing me about something, then they are disappointed and that is a very, very good memory because a lot of them are like sons to me. Some of them are like brothers because I wasn’t that old at that time. “

Williams is enjoying his time coaching young men here in Nashville at Tennessee State, but the past memories he helped create for the Tennessee Titans during their first introduction in Nashville will last forever. Now, at this point in his career, he is trying to help these young men achieve their goals.

“Every day is an interview. Them to me and me to them.”

It’s been a long, winding journey back to Nashville for Williams, but he is back in a stadium he is familiar with, creating memories for the TSU Tigers, where he created memories for so many Titans fans back in 1999 and 2000.