UA associate athletic director to retire

TUSCALOOSA | Johnny Williams, who has served since 2004 as the University of Alabama’s Senior Associate Athletic Director for External Operations, announced his retirement from the UA Athletic Department Friday evening.

Williams, who joined the department after serving as athletics director at Troy University for 11 years, is retiring from collegiate athletics after a career of almost 25 years to become Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Chairman of the Board of Creative Marketing and Management (CMM) in Tuscaloosa. CMM is a new company that will specialize in marketing and management rights of performing artists in the entertainment industry and athletics.

“Having coached on a football staff at Troy that won the 1987 national championship and having the experience as an administrator of moving a program up from Division II to Division I-A, and everything I was able to be a part of here at Alabama, I feel like I’ve had a rich experience in college athletics,” Williams said. “But, at the end of the day, this new venture will give me the ability to building something that my two sons [Andrew, 23, and David, 18]can be a part of and, hopefully, they can reap the rewards of the relationships I have been lucky enough to have through the years.”

Williams’ responsibilities at Alabama included oversight of Tide Pride, marketing and promotions, and the ticket office. Under Williams’ watch at Troy, the athletic department moved to Division I-A, completing a change from Division II in all sports. In January 2002, Williams was honored for his progressive leadership by the All-American Football Foundation with its prestigious Gen. Robert Neyland Athletics Director Award.

“Johnny brought good vision and creative thinking to our athletic department and I am confident that he will be very successful in this new venture,” said Mal Moore, Director of Athletics at Alabama. “He’s a very innovative person who made a difference with everything he was associated with in our department. I will always be appreciative of the step Johnny took to come here as an Associate Athletic Director after being an Athletic Director at Troy. I wish him nothing but the best.”

Prior to his arrival in Troy, Williams, a 1975 graduate at Holt, was the head football coach and athletic director at Pickens County High School in 1984. He also served as an assistant coach at his alma mater, the University of North Alabama, from 1979-83. A 1980 graduate of UNA with a degree in health/physical education, Williams was a four-year defensive starter for the Lions, earning Defensive Lineman of the Year honors in 1978. He was selected to the UNA Team of the Decade for the 1970s.