Paul Williams helped Stanford’s secondary show marked improvement in 2025, cutting down on touchdown passes allowed and being part of a Cardinal defense that yielded less than 30 points per game for the first time this decade.
With a new regime now af Stanford and plenty of coaching opportunities, Williams is on the move.
Sources tell FootballScoop that Williams is heading to the Southeastern Conference for his next coaching stop in a career closing in on 25 seasons.
Williams has agreed to become the nickels coach for Mike Elko’s Texas A&M program, FootballScoop has learned.
It will mark the first SEC stop for Williams, a former Delaware player who has coached extensively in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
In addition to his three years at Stanford, which marked that program’s transition from the PAC-12 fo the ACC.
Previous ACC stops for Williams include several seasons in Dave Clawson’s Wake Forest program as well as five years under Al Golden in the Miami Hurricanes program from 2011-15.
That was part of a stretch of 10 consecutive years for Williams working under Golden as he spent five years on staff at Temple and then transitioned to the Miami Hurricanes with Golden, now the defensive coordinator for the NFL’s Cincinnati Bengals.
Williams now joins an A&M program coming off an historic season under its second-year leader Elko.
The Aggies opened the 2025 slate with 11 consecutive wins and reached the College Football Playoff for the the first time.
The Aggies, who lost their CFP opener to eventual national runner-up Miami, are scheduled to open their 2026 season with a three-game homestand.
Texas A&M hosts Football Bowls Subdivision newcomer Missouri State, in the early years of its FBS transition, followed by Butch Jones’ Arkansas State squad a week later.
The Aggies kick off SEC play Sept. 19’at home against new-look Kentucky, headed by first-year coach Will Stein, before concluding the opening month at LSU in a massive showdown against the Tigers and their new head coach, Lane Kiffin.