Tom Williams (born December 22, 1969) is an American

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

coach and former player. He was most recently the head football coach at Greenhill School from 2013 to 2017. Williams also served as head coach at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

from 2009 to 2011, compiling a record of 16–14. He was a

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the line ...

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

from 1989 to 1992.

Playing career

Williams attended Trinity Valley School in his hometown of

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, covering nearly into Denton County, Texas, Denton, Johnson County, Texas, Johnson, Parker County, Texas, Parker, and Wise County, Te ...

. During his tenure at Trinity Valley he earned all-state honors in football, basketball, and baseball. Williams graduated from high school in 1988. Williams went on to pursue academics at Stanford University. While pursuing academics, Williams was also a four-year starter and letterman for the Stanford Cardinal. He played linebacker for the

Stanford Cardinal The Stanford Cardinal are the college athletics in the United States, athletic teams that represent Stanford University. Stanford's program has won 138 National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA team championships, the List of NCAA schools ...

from 1989–1992 and served as a team captain his senior year. He was a two-time member of the Academic All-Pac-10 team and an honorable mention for All-Pac-10 his senior season."Football Announces the Hiring of Tom Williams to Defensive Staff." UTEP Miners Inside Athletics. 21 Feb. 2012. Web. 26 Feb. 2012. .

Coaching career

Williams worked as an assistant coach at

, the

University of Hawaii A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

San Jose State University San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the List of oldest schools in California, oldest public university on the West Coast of ...

, and

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

before joining the

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team ...

as an assistant coach from 2006 to 2008. He accepted an offer, in January 2009, to become the head football coach at Yale; he was the first black head football coach in the school's history and the second in the history of the Ivy League. On November 17, 2011, the Rhodes Scholarship pursuits of Yale's Patrick Witt brought attention to Williams's misinterpretated claim that he was also a Rhode Scholarship finalist. The truth of the matter is that Williams was urged by two of his teachers and football coach to get interviewed, as he would be the perfect candidate. The problem was that the first interview was at the same time as tryouts for the San Francisco 49ers. As told, Williams went to the tryouts instead. That he skipped his final interview in order to attend an NFL tryout is a mixture of half truths mixed with the meddling of Harvard graduate and writer for The Washington Post, Peter May. Right before the rival game between Yale and Harvard, May had obtained some information and painted the story in a different light. The public outcry was enough to start an investigation. The investigation lead to Rhodes Scholarship officials stating that they have no record of Tom Williams applying for a Rhodes Scholarship, and his name does not appear in the scholarship's trust databases. Yale launched an internal review on the matter as well. Williams stepped down as Yale's head football coach due to the overwhelming pressure from Yale. He also admitted that he had never applied for a Rhodes Scholarship. As of February 21, 2012 Williams was named University of Texas at El Paso's safeties coach. He served on the UTEP defensive staff under head football coach Mike Price.

Personal life

Williams is married to Tonya; they have four children: Grace, Tom (Tre), Ana, and Lauren. Williams graduated from

Trinity Valley School Trinity Valley School ("TVS") is a PK-12, co-ed, independent school in Fort Worth, Texas. Trinity Valley School has four main objectives for its students: fine scholarship with its fulfillment at college; the development of wide constructive in ...

.He has a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

in university administration from

Head coaching record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Tom 1969 births Living people American football linebackers FIU Panthers football coaches Hawaii Rainbow Warriors football coaches Jacksonville Jaguars coaches San Jose State Spartans football coaches Stanford Cardinal football coaches Stanford Cardinal football players Washington Huskies football coaches UTEP Miners football coaches Yale Bulldogs football coaches Players of American football from Fort Worth, Texas