Cadillac Williams doesn’t know what the next month holds, or anything beyond that, frankly.
All he knows is that, as of Monday, he bears the weight of his alma mater on his broad shoulders. Williams was named Auburn’s interim coach Monday, shortly after the program fired Bryan Harsin less than two years into his six-year contract. Williams will guide Auburn for the next four games as the team tries to salvage a disappointing season, the Tigers sitting at 3-5 overall and 1-4 in SEC play heading into Saturday’s matchup with Mississippi State (6:30 p.m., ESPN2).
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“What I told those guys, what’s going to make me happy these next four weeks, there’s no promises,” Williams said. “I don’t know if we’re going to win a ballgame or not.”
It’s a daunting task ahead for Williams and a retooled coaching staff — six other football staffers, including offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Eric Kiesau and tight ends coach Brad Bedell, were fired Monday afternoon — but one the former Auburn All-America running back and program legend is embracing. It will mark his first time serving as a head coach at any level during his still-fledgling career, which only just began in 2015 at Division II Henderson State.
Williams is just the third interim coach in Auburn history, following Bill Oliver (1998 following the firing of Terry Bowden) and Kevin Steele (2020 after Auburn fired Gus Malzahn). Oliver went 2-3 in five games in that role, while Steele lost his only game as interim coach, the Citrus Bowl against Northwestern.
While interim coaching tags have been relatively rare on the Plains, there are already several across college football this season, as the coaching carousel began spinning early this year. Auburn is the seventh FBS team to make an in-season coaching change this fall, while UAB also has an interim coach in Bryant Vincent after Bill Clark’s sudden retirement in June.
So far this season, those interim coaches are 14-15 overall. Wisconsin’s Jim Leonhard (2-1) and Charlotte’s Pete Rossomando (1-0) are the only ones with winning records. Vincent (4-4) and Georgia Tech’s Brent Key (2-2) have their respective teams at .500 under their watch, while Nebraska’s Mickey Joseph (2-3), Arizona State’s Shaun Aguano (2-3) and Colorado’s Mike Sanford (1-2) haven’t quite been able to turn things around for their programs since taking over.
Five of those seven coaches started off their interim tenure with a win: Key, Sanford, Leonhard, Vincent and, most recently, Rossomando last week.
Williams has a chance to succeed at Auburn, which despite its struggles this season has what on paper looks like a manageable November schedule. Along with Saturday’s trip to Starkville, Miss., to take on a Mississippi State team that has lost two in a row, Auburn hosts a Texas A&M team that is also on a four-game skid and at the bottom of the SEC West after entering the year with sky-high expectations, then finishes its home slate with a nonconference matchup against Western Kentucky at Jordan-Hare Stadium. That, of course, is followed by a difficult road trip to Tuscaloosa to take on rival No. 6 Alabama.
Auburn needs to win three of those four games to make a bowl for the 10th straight season, but the team’s record over the next month isn’t Williams’ chief concern as he tries to hold the program together amid its second coaching change in two years.
“One thing that’s going to make me happy is if we play good football — and hard, Auburn football,” Williams said. “I honestly — that’s what I want to get these kids to do, man — play hard and compete. At the end of the day, I told these kids, win, lose or draw, if we do that, not only will we make ourselves proud, but I know the Auburn family will be proud of us, too.”
Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.
