If there’s one thing Bobby Williams will be remembered for during his almost three-year tenure at MSU, it’s that the man could recruit.
Williams, running backs coach and associate coach for 10 years before taking over for Nick Saban at the 2000 Citrus Bowl, was influential in bringing in a bulk of the talent the team has today.
During those years as an assistant coach, he went on several recruiting visits, talking to families, high school coaches and the student-athletes about the opportunities MSU had to offer.
Williams never had head coaching experience. Before coming to MSU, he was a running backs and defensive backs coach at Ball State, an offensive backfield coach at Eastern Michigan and a receivers coach at Kansas.
So after Saban left for the Bayou, a void was left at a storied football university. Williams took over the reigns of a team that was 9-2 and headed for a showdown with the Florida Gators in the Citrus Bowl.
The Spartans took care of the Gators in that game 37-34, and so the Williams era began. With the strong support of colleagues, players and fans, Williams became the 23rd head football coach at MSU.
Williams inherited a team that he had helped construct. He was out there on the frontlines talking to the athletes, and it was his warm and comforting approach that many athletes took to.
Last year, many of the recruits who signed their National Letter of Intent to play at MSU, cited Williams’ hospitality as a factor in their decisions.
Freshman wide receiver Kyle Brown who suffered a tear of the anterior cruciate ligament early on in his senior season said MSU never backed off recruiting him.
“(MSU) was the school that really fit me,” he said in January, after he verbally committed to MSU. “I know most of the players, and I like the coaching staff. Every time I went up there I felt like it was the school I wanted to go to.”
“They told me top-notch players have had this injury and came back as better players,” he said. “MSU called me at the hospital and reached out to me with the little things.”
Freshman running back David Richard, highly sought coming out of high school, chose MSU because he thought he would fit right in and he liked the coaching staff.
Richard, who is a St. Louis native like Williams, has now found himself with an opportunity to have a prolific career.
So who is the perhaps Bobby’s biggest recruit?
Charles Rogers. Nope.
Jeff Smoker. Nope.
How about Tyrell Dortch?
Dortch’s career at MSU has not panned out due to a devastating leg injury last year that still has the junior running back/cornerback unable to return to game action.
Dortch was an all-state athlete of Hoboken, N.J., In his senior season in 1999, he rushed for 2,605 yards, setting a school record, and scored 32 touchdowns.
For his career he had 4,486 yards with an eye-popping 60 touchdowns on 435 carries.
Ohio State, Florida State, Michigan and Florida were all interested in the elusive back, but MSU came out on top.
Bobby Williams was 16-17 as a head coach at MSU. He only had one winning season, last year’s 7-5 campaign, and racked only one Big Ten road win in 10 tries.
But, if MSU is able to turn the ship around within the next few years, let’s just remember these kids came to play for one man.
Ryan Wallace, State News sports editor, can be reached at wallac89@msu.edu.
