Williams resigns amid Rhodes controversy
Williams leads players onto the field at the 2009 Harvard-Yale game. Photo by Charlie Croom.
Head Football Coach Tom Williams resigned this morning, a little over a month after his history as a candidate for the Rhodes Scholarship first came into question.
Williams came under fire when the New York Times reported that the Rhodes Scholarship Trust had no record of Yale’s coach applying for the scholarship, even though Williams’ official biography on the Yale Athletics website listed him as a Rhodes candidate. The Times article prompted University President Richard Levin to ask for a review of Williams’ Rhodes candidacy on Nov. 17, and in a Wednesday morning press release, Williams said he was encouraged to apply for the scholarship but never did.
“I am extremely proud of my academic, athletic and coaching career,” Williams said in the release. “If there was confusion created, I take full responsibility. The timing of this inquiry has been difficult for everyone. At this point I believe it is in the best interest of my student-athletes and Yale University that I step down.”
When Williams was named coach in January 2009, he said his two goals for the team were to win an Ivy League championship and to beat Harvard. Though the Bulldogs posted a 16–14 overall record during Williams’ tenure, they have failed to win a single Yale-Harvard game in the last three seasons.
“We've got to turn The Game back into a rivalry,” Williams said in 2009. “You know, it’s been a little bit one-sided these last few years. A rivalry is only a rivalry when there’s some give-and-take, and the last few years there’s been too much take.”
But while the Elis finished a 7–3 campaign in the 2010 season, they tallied a mediocre 5–5 record this fall and suffered their worst loss against Harvard in 29 years, 45–7.
Williams’ Rhodes history came into the spotlight after quarterback Patrick Witt '12 was named a Rhodes finalist in October, with an interview scheduled on the same day as the Yale-Harvard game. Witt said he looked to Williams for advice in deciding to play or attend the interview because Williams had reportedly forgone a Rhodes interview when he was a Stanford student in 1992 in order to try out for the San Francisco 49ers. Witt ultimately withdrew his Rhodes application.
Although Williams was listed as a Rhodes candidate in his biography on the Yale Athletics website, the New York Times first reported on Nov. 16 that the Rhodes Scholarship Trust had no record of Williams ever applying for the scholarship. His biography on the website no longer mentions the scholarship.
Williams said in the statement today that the Stanford Fellowship office, faculty members and his coach Bill Walsh suggested he consider the scholarship when he was a student, but that he decided against applying. He also said his involvement with the San Francisco 49ers went no further than a three-day try-out camp during his senior spring.
Director of Athletics Tom Beckett said in the press release that the search for a new head football coach would begin immediately.
Comments
theantiyale 5 months, 1 week ago
What is going on in this country? It's like Alice in Wonderland: " Off with their Head."
sonofmory 5 months, 1 week ago
he lied about being in a position to counsel a student through a challenging decision...he was in no way able to ccounsel him through experience as he said he could. for that, he is not a good leader or role model and should not be allowed to continue in his position. integrity is an important part of sports and it appears that he might have been lacking.
River_Tam 5 months, 1 week ago
Color me disappointed that the first black football coach at Yale had to turn out to be a fraud. Smh. What an embarrassment.
4th and 22.
eli1 5 months, 1 week ago
To what extent he was a Rhodes Candidate has absolutely nothing to do with his abilities to coach football. By all accounts Coach Williams was very well liked and respected by the players on the team. I have to think that if this happened to a professor and not the football coach it would have gone away very quietly. Williams is simply another victim of Dick Levin's mission to destroy all of Yale athletics.
Yale12 5 months, 1 week ago
For one, coaches are also role models, and Williams lied about being a Rhodes Scholarship candidate - a terrible example. He also posted the worst loss against Harvard in 30 years and graduated 2 senior classes who had never won a Game - not to mention the 4th and 22 call. He should have been fired a long time ago.
OHyale 5 months, 1 week ago
Although I agree with your statement concerning Levin's intentions, I do not agree with your overall take. Levin's warpath aside, Williams did lie. Athletes need to be able to trust their coach. While I don't think this alone warrants him being pushed out the door, when you add some of the absolutely mind blowing calls he accumulated over the past three years (there are many more than 4th and 22 for those who do not follow the program closely) he deserved to go.
Despite what the administration and general Yale community see, the bar within the Yale football program is simply to high for this kind of conduct.
eleven 5 months, 1 week ago
"To what extent he was a Rhodes Candidate has absolutely nothing to do with his abilities to coach football."
"By all accounts Coach Williams was very well liked and respected by the players on the team."
"I have to think that if this happened to a professor and not the football coach it would have gone away very quietly."
"Williams is simply another victim of Dick Levin's mission to destroy all of Yale athletics."
eli1143770312 5 months, 1 week ago
After Notre Dame's experience with George O'Leary in 2001 (he was fired days after he was hired when evidence of resume puffery came to light), I'm not sure which is more surprising: that Tom Williams would include false information in his biography or that Yale would fail to perform its due diligence and detect it. Actually, Williams' act of commission is the harder to understand. If he had cleaned up his resume before applying for the Yale job, it seems highly unlikely that it would have adversely affected his job prospects. But Yale's omission then is still disappointing, especially since Williams seems in retrospect to have been such a poor fit for the job.
Opinionated 4 months, 3 weeks ago
Yes. My conclusion, too: shame on them both.
How dumb can you be?
dkelly75 5 months, 1 week ago
(1) I wonder how many faculty members are quivering a bit at the severity of the "punishment."
(2) How in the world can the Rhodes interview process be so rigid that a kid due to play in The Game couldn't reschedule his interview.
(3) Re: "Witt said he looked to Williams for advice in deciding to play or attend the interview because Williams had reportedly foregone a Rhodes interview when he was a Stanford student in 1992 in order to try out for the San Franciso 49ers." The word is forgone. And the city is San Francisco. (Sorry to quibble, but this is the Yale Daily News.)
Veritas 5 months, 1 week ago
On point 2: I don't blame the Rhodes committee. How is The Game any more important than any of the many other conflicts their other interviewees face? And this comes with the undertones that Witt was somehow guaranteed the Rhodes if he just showed up. That's simply not the case. He'll have plenty of other opportunities. I'm not worried for Pat.
Opinionated 4 months, 3 weeks ago
All faculty members who misrepresented their curricula vitorum (I think - I've pretty much forgotten my Latin declensions - sorry) should be worried.
They should also be fired.
Why shouldn't we hold our academic staff, as well as our athletic staff, up to the same standards that we hold a minimum wage worker at a typical company? At most places in the 'real' world, if you lie on your resume and get caught, you are gone, even if you are a 'good worker'.
bowwow 5 months, 1 week ago
Yet another Yale athlete pretending to belong among the intellectuals.
OHyale 5 months, 1 week ago
Your head must be in your ass. These comments never cease to amaze me.
RexMottram08 5 months ago
Fitting in with the "intellectuals" at Yale is no great accomplishment. Just dash off a few thousand words about semiotics, gender discrimination and suggest that the Federal government pony up more cash to raise "awareness." Boom! Tenure granted!
jamesdakrn 5 months, 1 week ago
All things aside, the pure stupidity of 4th and 22 warrants a swift dismissal of Williams
Veritas 5 months, 1 week ago
That wasn't Williams' call.
Opinionated 4 months, 3 weeks ago
I just knew it would come up!
If that didn't cook his goose with the Old Blues, the 45-7 surely did!
And 0-3 against Hahvaad.
And, oh, did he tell a fib? 'Embellish' his resume a bit? Dear me!
joey00 5 months, 1 week ago
http://youtu.be/0yzsStVkJvU
PC12 5 months, 1 week ago
ups
Opinionated 5 months, 1 week ago
I don't know what was on Williams' resume, or what he implied to the University during the interview process.
However, if he did misrepresent his background, then Yale did the right thing in encouraging him to leave. Maybe he can go work for George O'Leary...
Folks, I don't know about you, but I found recruiting and hiring people to be a very difficult job. Finding good people for your organization is critical for your success as an organization (just like recruiting football players...).
Getting open and honest information upon which to base those hiring decisions is critical. When people are exposed as liars, they should be flushed from your organization, because they will surely do damage, one way or another, if they remain in it.
That is why most companies will fire you without a second thought, if they subsequently find out you lied on your resume.
Ciarrai 5 months, 1 week ago
It seems like he gave some misleading info and, apparently, he was not justified in giving Witt direction based on that sort of misleading info. However, after watching the recent THE GAME, I am convinced that he may not be such a great coach. Oh, Harvard beat Yale 45-7 and it wasn't that close. So, to sum it up: he may have lied or mislead on his resume and he has produced mediocre results in general, but horrible results against Harvard. And, by the way, did he actually play in the NFL? I guess Levin, et al., had to pull the plug. I bet they wanted Dick Jauron a long time ago, anyhow.
eli1143770312 5 months, 1 week ago
Looking forward, could we get the process of selecting the next coach out of Tom Beckett's hands? Yale's record against Harvard under Beckett is five wins (including a win six months after he was hired, Yale's fourth in five years at that point), thirteen losses (the overall record has gone from 60-42-8 to 65-55-8; parity here we come), including ten losses out of the last eleven. His two coaching selections were disappointments. And how exactly did he miss Tom Williams' falsifications? Beckett was the associate athletic director at Stanford during the period when Williams claimed falsely that he went through a Rhodes process and when he claimed falsely to have been signed by the 49ers as part of its practice squad. And that wasn't just any NFL team; that team played 30 minutes up the road from Stanford and Stanford's head coach at the time was Bill Walsh who remained close to the 49ers after leading them to three Super Bowl championships in the 1980s. That Beckett managed to miss Williams' 'George O'Leary' problems is remarkable. If Beckett isn't fired himself, at least put this process in a competent person's hands. Carm Cozza knows a thing or two about football and coaching and winning at Yale. He'd be a good pick for leading the selection effort.
eli1 5 months ago
Unfortunately Beckett acts only as a yes-man to Levin. As long as Levin is President, Beckett will continue to act as his minion. I think a more accurate thing to look at is their record since Levin took over. Simply put, the Harvard administration takes pride in upholding tradition and achieving athletic excellence. Levin simply does not, and will do whatever to ensure that Beckett keeps Yale's streak of mediocrity intact.
Opinionated 4 months, 3 weeks ago
Wow!
Sounds as if Beckett wasn't complacent or ignorant, but complicit.
sonofmory 5 months ago
i think both levin and beckett would like to see us beat harvard more regularly. unfortunately we have been outcoached by Tim Murphy at harvard for too long now. hopefully, this resignation will provide an opportunity to get someone who can match him from a recruiting and x&o's standpoint.
alum2001 5 months ago
The NYT reports that Williams also lied about playing for the 49ers. One falsehood about one's resume can MAYBE be overlooked, but two suggests a pattern of dishonesty, which is unacceptable at Yale or anywhere else. May our next coach finally lead us to victory over Harvard.
"Williams, it turns out, also misrepresented his pro football credentials as part of his official Yale biography.
He had asserted that he signed with the San Francisco 49ers as a free agent in 1993 and spent 1993 on the team’s roster as a linebacker. Both claims proved to be untrue. There is no mention of him in the team’s media guide under “all-time roster,” and when contacted by The Times about Williams’s claim that he had signed with the team as a free agent, a spokesman said the team’s accounting office had no record of ever issuing a W-2 form to Williams."
http://thequad.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/21/yale-football-coach-resigns/
joey00 5 months ago
Quick put a sign up at Human Services AND the Union assembly : Accepting no applications" because if any banana can tell a few fables and get to a position like this
yalie77 5 months ago
Definitely poor form to lie on your resume.
Particularly bad choice to lie about something you didn't even win! Who cares if you were a candidate for something? Unless you were a candidate for U.S. President (see: John McCain), it doesn't matter a whit unless you actually got it! Rhodes is nice, I guess, if you actually get it and go through with the studies, but being a candidate? That's like saying, I was once a candidate for admission to Princeton... wow, so impressive, you mean you really sent them an application? Oh boy, how delightful.
Mikelawyr2 5 months ago
If I had been a candidate for admission to Prnct*n, I wouldn't be advertising it.
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