"Brother" Bill Oliver (born November 1, 1939) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

player and coach. He served as a head football coach at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga from 1980 to 1983 and at

Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a public land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama. With more than 24,600 undergraduate students and a total enrollment of more than 30,000 with 1,330 faculty members, Auburn is the second largest uni ...

for the final five games of the 1998 season, compiling a career

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

record of 31–17–1. Oliver attended the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a Public university, public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and la ...

, where he played for

Bear Bryant Paul William "Bear" Bryant (September 11, 1913 – January 26, 1983) was an American college football player and coach. He is considered by many to be one of the greatest college football coaches of all time, and best known as the head coach of ...

from 1959 to 1961 as a

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

. After coaching for high schools in

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

, Oliver joined Auburn as a secondary coach in 1966 under coach

Ralph Jordan Ralph (pronounced ; or ,) is a male given name of English, Scottish and Irish origin, derived from the Old English ''Rædwulf'' and Radulf, cognate with the Old Norse ''Raðulfr'' (''rað'' "counsel" and ''ulfr'' "wolf"). The most common forms ...

. Oliver remained at Auburn until 1970, when he left for the same position at Alabama. In 1980, Oliver became head coach at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, a position he held until 1983. Oliver was the defensive coordinator for the Memphis Showboats of the

United States Football League The United States Football League (USFL) was a professional American football league that played for three seasons, 1983 through 1985. The league played a spring/summer schedule in each of its active seasons. The 1986 season was scheduled to be ...

in 1984 and 1985, and then coached the secondary at Clemson University. In 1990, Gene Stallings hired Oliver as a secondary coach at Alabama and promoted him to defensive coordinator in 1993. Alabama's

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches and ...

Hootie Ingram Cecil W. "Hootie" Ingram (born September 2, 1933) is a former American football player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He played for the University of Alabama from 1952 to 1954 and was selected as an All- SEC defensive back in 1952. ...

promised that Oliver would succeed Stallings as head coach, but Ingram was fired in 1995 when the program faced

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

sanctions. In 1996, Oliver accepted a position as Auburn's

defensive coordinator A defensive coordinator is a coach responsible for a gridiron football (American football) team's defense. Generally, the defensive coordinator, the offensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator represent the second level of a team's c ...

, which he held until 1998. After

Terry Bowden Terry Wilson Bowden (; born February 24, 1956) is an American college football coach, currently the head coach at the University of Louisiana at Monroe. Bowden was previously head coach at Salem University (1983–1985), Samford University (1987 ...

resigned, Oliver served as interim head coach and was a candidate for the permanent position. After Auburn hired

Tommy Tuberville Thomas Hawley Tuberville ( ; born September 18, 1954) is an American retired college football coach and politician serving as the junior United States senator from Alabama since 2021. Before entering politics, Tuberville was the head football co ...

, Oliver retired from coaching football. In May 2013, he was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame.

Head coaching record

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oliver, Bill 1939 births Living people American football defensive backs Alabama Crimson Tide football coaches Alabama Crimson Tide football players Auburn Tigers football coaches Chattanooga Mocs football coaches Clemson Tigers football coaches United States Football League coaches High school football coaches in Alabama People from Sumter County, Alabama Coaches of American football from Alabama Players of American football from Alabama