A member of Doug Martin's NM State staff from 2013-16, Izaiah Williams rejoined the Aggies in April 2020 and is in his first season as the player development coordinator.
Williams, who has more than a decade's worth of coaching experience under his belt, was a graduate assistant in his first stint with the Aggies. He coached the defensive backs and outside linebackers, helping mentor current Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Winston Rose, who earned All-Sun Belt Conference Honorable Mention recognition in his senior year.
Williams was also heavily involved in the scouting and recruiting of numerous former Aggie defensive standouts, including Malik Demby, Javahn Fergurson, Terrill Hanks, Dalton Herrington, Kawe Johnson, Shamad Lomax, DeMarcus Owens and Austin Perkins.
Williams returned to Las Cruces after spending the previous three seasons at Whittier College as the special teams coordinator and linebackers coach. He oversaw the development of linebacker Nicholas Markarian, who was named to the All-Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Second Team in 2018.
Prior to his time at Whittier, Williams coached the defensive backs at Dixie State for one year. Three student-athletes earned Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference honors under his tutelage, including cornerback Jaylen Moore, who was named Defensive Freshman of the Year in 2016.
Williams initially came to NM State from Northwestern, where he worked for two years in a variety of roles. He was the defensive quality control coach during the 2012 campaign, when the Wildcats went 10-3 overall and won the 2013 Gator Bowl - their first bowl-game victory since the 1949 Rose Bowl.
Before arriving at Northwestern, Williams was the defensive backs and wide receivers coach at Urbana High School in Urbana, Ill., for one season.
Williams began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Humboldt State, his alma mater, from 2008-10. Working with the running backs, Williams guided two student-athletes to Great Northwest Athletic Conference honors.
A native of Pacific Grove, Calif., Williams played collegiately at Monterey Peninsula College and HSU. He earned a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology from HSU in 2007.
