Bubba Williams

By Allen Etzler
Published in Sports on November 14, 2014 1:48 PM

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Beau Williams expected to become a coach.

During college, he'd return to his alma mater on Friday nights, sit in the booth and help his dad, Chip, coach.

Younger brother, Bubba, wasn't too sure of his future. The standout lineman went on to play long-snapper at East Carolina University, where He changed his major four or five times.

Fast forward to now and Bubba -- 35 years old -- still doesn't know what he wants to be when he grows up.

"Bubba's Bubba," Beau said. "He's all over the place. That's how he was in college. He''s just that way. He beats to his own drum."

Bubba is making some noise as a high school football coach these days -- just like his older brother and dad, who are on the same staff at Jacksonville. Bubba's not too bad at this coaching thing, either.

One year ago, Bubba guided Eastern Wayne to its most-successful season, an 11-win campaign that ended in the eastern 3-A regional championship game. This season, the Warriors are 8-2 and a fifth seed in the playoffs.

And of all teams he has to play?

Jacksonville.

The siblings and dad square off tonight at Little Big Horn. Kickoff is 7:30 p.m. It's the first-ever game meeting between Beau and Bubba, whose respective teams scrimmage each other every year in the preseason. But, there's not much of a sibling rivalry.

"We've always been supportive of each other. I'm his biggest fan and he's mine," Bubba said. "Any Friday night, first thing I do after a game is try to figure whether or not they won. This week I try not to talk to him about it, just trying to take it as a normal week."

He never played against his dad while he coached at Scotland.

"Thank goodness. They were loaded," Bubba said.

Bubba started his career at New Bern as his dad's defensive line coach, while Beau served as the defensive coordinator. Chip took the job at Scotland and offered his sons a position on the staff.

Beau accepted.

Bubba declined. He's still not sure why, not that he regrets it.

"I really don't know why I didn't go," he said. "I prayed about it and couldn't come to the conclusion that's what I was supposed to do."

Beau soon became the head coach at Jacksonville and dad joined as an assistant.

Bubba goes back to the job he turned down.

"That's probably why he went with Beau ... And (our parents) always babied him," Bubba joked. "Just kidding."

The real story is Beau was able to get Chip a paying job teaching physical education before Bubba could. Having dad could be a big advantage tonight.

"They got way more (coaching) experience," Bubba said. "My dad has probably forgotten more football than I'll ever know or care to know ... If you're going from a coaching standpoint, I'm the modest guy, they got all the advantages.

"You can print that, but I'm going to go out here in a minute and tell my kids we're going to beat the mess out of them."

Bubba is modest. He doesn't take credit for any of the success.

"I've been blessed to have a great group of athletes and a great staff," he said.

He doesn't take credit for opposing coaches use his success as a model for their programs.

"We've had success here lately, so I guess that's the shiny thing right this minute. If we take a dip there will be someone else everybody wants to model after," he said.

Bubba doesn't talk much. He is as direct as they come.

So as he sits behind his desk in his office, using the few minutes between school ending and practice to squeeze in a little bit more film study, it's easy to assume that behind the coaching success, and the seemingly ultra-focus on football, that all Bubba cares about is the game -- that there's not much more to him.

But there is so much more to Bubba Williams than meets the eye. Sure, there is the football coach getting ready to take on his brother and father tonight. There is the guy who still is not quite sure what he wants to be when he grows up.

But there's also the guy in the frame in the back corner of his office. The guy holding two young kids. The father.

When the topic turns to his two kids, Bubba opens up. He elaborates on parenthood. He smiles more. He even smiles about the lack of sleep he gets because of them. His kids are the reason why he would never go to another level of coaching even if an offer came.

"When the offseason comes, it's the offseason. I don't have to go recruit or anything like that," he said.

"My two kids. That's fun to me."

Win or lose tonight, Bubba will hug his father and brother. He will go home and hug those two kids. He will take the time to appreciate one of the things that is bigger than football: his family.

But the real question is, 30 years from now will his kids be there on the gridiron for another sibling rivalry between coaches?

"I hope not," Williams said. "Coaching is good, but they're going to go be president or something."