New Packers Assistant Got Start Coaching YMCA Basketball
GREEN BAY, Wis. – Green Bay Packers assistant Greg Williams’ start in NFL coaching began in boredom and a trip to the mall.
“I was down in Arizona and I was playing Arena football at the time, so I knew that my professional football life was coming to an end very soon,” Williams, the Packers’ first-year defensive passing game coordinator, said on Wednesday.
“So, I was at the mall trying to figure out what I was going to do. I had already worked out that day and I came out of the mall, there was a flyer from the YMCA that was looking for kids for a basketball team and then at the bottom it said looking for coaches.”
Williams, who was about 25 at the time, didn’t have any kids. But he was interested in “doing something helpful” and volunteering his time. So, he coached a basketball team of 9- and 10-year-olds.
“Long story short,” he said, “we lost in the championship game, but it was one of the most gratifying times that I had in just what I was doing and the reaction from the kids and all the players.”
Coaching a bunch of kids is what started Williams on a path to Green Bay.
“When I left that season,” Williams recalled, “I made a decision at that point. I said, ‘Hey, I think coaching is kind of in my blood. I think that’s what I want to do.’ And from that point on, then it just kind of spiraled.”
How do you go from coaching youth basketball to coaching in the NFL?
Through hard work, sacrifice and belief.
His first “real” shot in big-time coaching was at the bottom of the rung as an intern at Arizona State in 2003. That’s a lot of hours for zero pay.
“You couldn’t work in football at the time because there were regulations, so they allowed me to be a volunteer intern in the weight room,” Williams recalled. “They knew I wanted to coach, so they said, in your spare time, when you’re done with your work here, you can go upstairs and you can go ahead and talk to the coaches if you want to sit in meetings. But you’ve got to fulfill your volunteer work down here in the weight room.”
During home games that first season, Williams had the high-profile job of “get-back coach.” He was the guy in charge of making sure the players and coaches stayed off the field.
“I got a free brown bag dinner after the games,” Williams said.
How did he pay the bills while working for free?
“Arena football, man,” he said. “I had two roommates and saved my arena football money.”
From there, Williams slowly moved up the chain. After that one volunteer season at Arizona State, he spent two years at the College of DuPage, a junior college located in Glen Ellyn, Ill. Those teams went 2-17. After that, he worked for two years at Arizona Tech, a Division II program, and one year at Pittsburgh.
Then came his really big break with the San Diego Chargers, working from 2009 through 2012 as assistant linebackers coach and 2013 through 2015 as assistant secondary coach. During the 2012 through 2014 seasons, Packers defensive coordinator Joe Barry served as linebackers coach.
After that, it was two years with the Indianapolis Colts, one year with the Denver Broncos and, finally, the 2019 through 2022 seasons as cornerbacks coach for the Arizona Cardinals.
Coaching kids two decades ago required trust. Coaching pros today also requires trust.
“Granted, they’re 9- and 10-year-old kids – they don’t know any better – but it was them saying, ‘All right, coach. We’ll do what you say because we believe you’re telling us what’s best for us to do,’” Williams said. “You take that energy and you take that concept of them trusting you and that’s kind of how you base it off of coaching right now when you’re coaching NFL players.
“You’re coaching professionals. They want to know how you can help them. ‘You don’t have to let me coach you.’ So, when they allow you to coach them, you have to take that seriously because they’re letting you in. They’re trusting you with their career. So, that’s how serious I take it as far as coaching them because, if they trust you to coach them and they trust me to apply what I’m coaching them to do, then I think it could be a happy marriage, so I like the gratification when you see it all come together.”
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