Auburn has a 58-item checklist for its head coach opening, and a topline item better be to make sure interim Carnell 'Cadillac' Williams stays on staff
Despite tears swelling his eyes all Saturday night, Carnell “Cadillac” Williams couldn’t stop smiling.
In pregame, after sprinting out of the tunnel to lead his Auburn Tigers.
“Wow!,” the former Auburn running back told ESPN’s Cole Cubelic, a fellow Tigers alum, just before making his head coaching debut at any level.
“I’m the head coach here. In a million years, I would’ve never thought it. Get the opportunity to serve these young men and pour into their lives. That’s what it’s about. The Auburn family, these players. I’m freaking excited. We’re about to play some good football. Some good, hard-nosed Auburn football.”
Williams’ smile remained during the game, even as Auburn trailed big at halftime, only for the first-time head coach to inspire the Tigers to rally from a three-score deficit to take a late second-half lead against Mississippi State.
“Go crazy!” Williams kept repeating, his favorite catchphrase, while racing up and down the sidelines as if he was still playing.
And even in the locker room postgame, Williams’ smile was still there, even as he delivered a rousing and earnest speech to a somber team that was stunned moments earlier in a 39-33 overtime loss.
“I’m proud of y’all. Proud of y’all, man. Fight. Didn’t quit,” Williams said, almost preaching while surrounded by a group of players on the verge of tears.
“That was Auburn football. … Everything’s about your perspective, man. Everything’s about your perspective, man. Bro, we can learn from this. This is not a loss for us. Yeah, we did lose the mission, but there’s so many lessons out of this.”
Hopefully, new Tigers AD John Cohen is paying attention.
Barring an improbable fairytale Ed Orgeron-esque ending, Carnell Williams will not be Auburn’s next head coach, but whoever ultimately lands the job better make sure he has a spot for Cadillac to remain parked on The Plains.
Although popular interim coaches are oftentimes considered ill-fitted to be part of a transitional staff, I don’t care how much shine Cadillac Williams might steal from Lane Kiffin, Hugh Freeze or whoever, because in less than a week the former Auburn all-time great accomplished what Bryan Harsin couldn’t do for two years.
Bring Auburn together.
The Tigers did lose the battle Saturday at Mississippi State, partly because Williams looked in-over-his-head with some first-half coaching decisions. He owned up to as much in his speech to his players, admitting he gave away, “What, 13, 14, 15, 16 points?”
“I’m going to take this one,” he said.
“But y’all fought. That’s that Auburn spirit, man. The Auburn family, they’re proud of you. I ain’t seen that type of fight in a long time. We got better. We got better, man.”
For the first time all season, the Tigers had a bite.
They played with pride. Unity. Fight.
Characteristics completely absent Auburn’s program the last few years — during the final days of the Gus Malzahn era and then throughout the disastrous Harsin tenure.
Yet after a single chaotic week on the Plains, Williams — who was promoted to interim head coach on Halloween and had three days to come up with a game plan with a skeleton coaching staff — united the Tigers’ program.
You can’t totally change a culture in seven days, but it’s amazing what happens when a football team suddenly has a prevalent purpose.
Few love Auburn like Carnell Williams, and clearly, his respect and pride for his alma mater resonates with Tigers players, fellow coaches and fans. He’d been on Harsin’s staff the last two years, but he definitely wasn’t empowered to make a difference.
He is now, and the early changes are evident.
Williams has three more games as Auburn’s interim head coach — home against Texas A&M and Western Kentucky and then the Iron Bowl in Tuscaloosa — but this isn’t about wins and losses in 2022. It’s about the best interest for the future of the Tigers’ program.
In his introductory press conference Tuesday, Cohen said he has a checklist of “58 things that we’ll go through as we go through this process looking for a new head football coach.”
One of the topline items better be: “Retain Carnell “Cadillac” Williams on staff, and let him “Go crazy.”