Doug Williams

Doug Williams

Doug Williams is Senior Advisor to Washington Commanders President Jason Wright. In his role, Doug leverages his vast experience with the team as a player, ambassador, and executive to provide counsel on all matters pertaining to the establishment of a new, modern identity for the team.
Previously, Doug served as Washington's senior vice president of player development. In that role, one of the most celebrated athletes in franchise history helped lead and guide the efforts of the team's player development department.
Doug, a member of the 80 Greatest Washington players and franchise's Ring of Fame, played with the team from 1986-89 and led Washington to a Super Bowl XXII title, which was a 42-10 rout of the Denver Broncos. The first African-American quarterback to play in a Super Bowl, he completed 18-of-29 passes for 340 yards with four touchdown passes to earn Super Bowl XXII MVP honors.
Doug is a veteran of 21 NFL seasons, including nine as a player and 12 in scouting/personnel roles. He spent five seasons as Personnel Executive with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 2004-08 before being named the team's Director of Pro Personnel for the 2009 season.
Doug joined the Buccaneers' front office in 2004 following a successful tenure as head coach at his alma mater, Grambling State, and one of the most storied playing careers in league and team history. His responsibilities in Tampa included coordinating the scouting and recruiting of all NFL players, while also monitoring NFL transactions and overseeing player tryouts. In addition, he was in charge of Tampa Bay's evaluating efforts of all other professional football leagues, including the Canadian Football League.
A first-round pick by Tampa Bay in the 1978 NFL Draft (17th overall), he led the Buccaneers to the first three playoff appearances in team history. He propelled the team to three winning seasons (10-6 in 1979, 9-7 in 1981 and 5-4 in 1982). They were the only campaigns in franchise history with a winning record until more than 15 years later, in the 1997 season. He started 67 career games for the Buccaneers and was a two- time team MVP in 1980 and 1981. He ended his Tampa Bay career in 1982 as the all-time franchise leader in touchdown passes, passing yards, attempts and completions.
In 1986, Washington traded for Williams' rights following two seasons with the USFL's Oklahoma Outlaws. In his Super Bowl XXII MVP performance following the 1987 season, he set or tied several Super Bowl passing records, including most TD passes (four), most yards passing (340), longest pass completion (80 yards) and longest TD pass (80 yards).
In six seasons during his first tenure (1998-2003) at Grambling State, Doug brought one of the most storied programs in college football history back to prominence, compiling a 52-18 record as head coach after succeeding the legendary Eddie Robinson, who was at the helm for 57 years from 1941-97 and re-wrote the record books as the winningest coach in the history of college football with 408 career wins. Williams led the Tigers to three consecutive Southwestern Athletic Conference titles from 2000-02, as they were named National Black College Champions during the same three-year span. He was also named SWAC Coach of the Year in each of those three seasons. Williams was a two-time finalist for The Sports Network Eddie Robinson (Division I-AA) National Coach of the Year. He rejoined the program for three seasons from 2011-13, including earning the SWAC title in his first season back in 2011.
Doug started his college head coaching career at Morehouse College in 1997. He also has previous NFL experience as a scout for the Jacksonville Jaguars in 1995 and as offensive coordinator for the Scottish Claymores of the World League in 1995 and tutoring running backs for Navy in 1994. He also excelled on the high school level as head coach and athletic director at Point Coupee H.S. in New Roads, La., in 1991. In 1993, he was head coach at Northeast H.S. in his hometown of Zachary, La., where he guided the team to a 13-1 record and the state semifinals, including a win over Peyton Manning's Isidore Newman squad in the 1993 state quarterfinals.
As Grambling's quarterback from 1974-77, he had a spectacular college career as he passed for more than 8,000 yards and 93 touchdowns, leading the Tigers to three Black College National Championships and two SWAC titles. He posted a 35-5 record as a starter and finished fourth in voting for the 1977 Heisman Trophy.
In 2005, Doug and Shack Harris established The Shack Harris & Doug Williams Foundation with the function of providing grants for after- school initiatives, leadership development, mentoring programs and minority higher education assistance for economically disadvantaged youth. In March of 2009, the foundation put on its first annual Washington Football Legends for Charity in Washington, D.C. In 2010, the foundation established the Black College Football Hall of Fame, which will move to its new home in Canton, Ohio in 2018. After Super Bowl XLII, the NFL honored the 20th anniversary of his Super Bowl XXII victory as Williams was chosen to present the Lombardi Trophy to the New York Giants following their victory over the New England Patriots.
Doug and his wife, Raunda, have eight children: Ashley, Adrian, Carmeleta, Doug, Jr., Jasmine, Laura, Lee and Temessia.