Just more than a year ago, Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Vince Williams retired from the NFL. He’s found a new life’s work, hired as a Pine-Richland High School assistant coach, a school in the Pittsburgh suburbs. The news was tweeted by the school’s head coach a short time ago.
Williams retired from the NFL at the start of the Steelers’ 2021 training camp. A sixth round pick in 2013 draft, Williams was a hidden gem. He was forced into action as a rookie following Larry Foote’s injury before establishing himself as a thumping special teamer. He returned to the starting lineup for the 2017 season, logging 89 total tackles across 16 games. Williams became a fan favorite, well-known for his memorable appearances to training camp. He also served as one-half of Shake & Bake with Ryan Shazier, one of his closest friends.
Williams was released by the Steelers at the start of the 2021 offseason but brought back one month later on a one-year deal. He announced his retirement on the first day the team reported to camp, July 21st. For his career, Williams appeared in 121 games, making 69 starts, and recording 479 career tackles. Those 121 games are the second-most of any Kevin Colbert sixth round selection, only trailing Antonio Brown, and fifth most of any Steelers’ sixth round pick since 1980, trailing only Tunch Ilkin, Bryan Hinkle, Greg Lloyd, and Brown.
Since stepping away from the game, Williams has largely remained out of the public eye, not often on social media. But he’s occasionally chimed in, defending Devin Bush last year and recently tweeting some videos of him out on the golf course. Now, he’s trading in Sunday afternoons for Friday nights with Pine-Richland High School. And those kids are about to get some quality coaching.
