Former Auburn linebacker Travis Williams was promoted to linebacker coach at his alma mater prior to the 2016 season, after holding various roles on the Tigers’ football support staff.

In 2017, SEC West champion Auburn ranked 14th in total defense and 12th in scoring defense, allowing just 4.67 yards per play, eighth best nationally. Senior linebacker Tre’ Williams earned second team all-SEC honors.

In 2016, the Tigers ranked seventh nationally in scoring defense, 11th in red zone defense and 28th in total defense, an improvement of 43 spots over the previous season, and held eight consecutive opponents without a rushing TD, the longest season streak at Auburn since 1957.

Steeped in the Tiger tradition on defense, Williams signed with Auburn in 2001, redshirted his first season and then lettered the next four, earning all-SEC honors in 2004-05. He led Auburn in tackles (80) during the 2004 undefeated season; he was second in tackles in 2005 (68) and third in 2003 (67). He won the Pat Dye Leadership Award on defense in 2004 and 2005. 

Williams played for the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons during the 2006 and 2007 seasons, before beginning his coaching career at his alma mater, Spring Valley (S.C.) High School as a volunteer assistant.

Williams returned to Auburn in 2009 as a defensive graduate assistant, and was part of Auburn’s 2010 national championship season. After coaching stops at Northern Iowa and Creekside (Ga.) High School, Williams came back to Auburn in 2014 as a defensive analyst.

He served as an on-field coach on defense in preparations for Auburn’s 2015 Outback and 2015 Birmingham Bowl appearances.

Williams earned his bachelor’s degree in criminology and criminal justice from Auburn in 2005, and received a master’s degree in adult education from Auburn in 2011.

A native of Columbia, S.C., Williams and his wife Jeanine, an Auburn graduate, have three daughters, Tru, Reign and Brave.