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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – One of Spain Park’s brightest stars in program history will now continue his coaching career at the Power 4 level as he joins Rich Rodriguez in Morgantown.

West Virginia University hired William Green as its new defensive line coach according to an announcement on Friday, Jan. 3.

Green previously served as the Jacksonville State defensive line coach as part of Rodriguez’s staff. The Gamecocks won the Conference USA championship in 2024, earning a 9-5 record in just their second season as an FBS program.

“William has coached with us at Jacksonville State and Louisiana Monroe and has done an outstanding job developing players and defensive lines,” Rodriguez said. “I am confident that he will continue to be a successful coach and leader here at WVU.”

Before he got into coaching though, Green was one of the most decorated players in Spain Park history. He was a U.S. Army and Parade All-American and Super 12 linebacker and defensive end in 2007 after earning 114 tackles, four sacks and a fumble recovery.

The standout senior season came as part of the Jags’ runner-up finish in Class 6A and helped him sign with Florida to play college football.

At Florida, he was a part of the Gators’ 2008 BCS national championship team as a freshman and earned 53 tackles, 11 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks across 53 games in his four-year career.

He went on to be a graduate assistant for Jacksonville State in 2014 and 2015 and Florida in 2016 before the Gamecocks hired him as their defensive line coach.

That turned out to be his first stint as JSU’s defensive line coach as the program won back-to-back Ohio Valley Conference titles in 2017 and 2018, making the second round of the FCS playoffs in both seasons.

From there, he went to Louisiana-Monroe, leading a big turnaround at ULM in 2020 alongside Rodriguez before returning to Jacksonville State.

During his second time with the Gamecocks, the defense led the FCS in 2022 with 15 fumble recoveries during a 9-2 season which was capped off by an ASUN championship.

After the move up to FBS, Jacksonville State led Conference USA in 2023 in sacks with 39 en route to a 9-4 record and a New Orleans Bowl win over Louisiana while three defensive linemen made the All-Conference USA teams.

That culminated in a conference championship in 2024 where the Gamecocks defense finished fifth national in fumbles recovered, 10th in red zone defense and 15th in turnovers gained. Green’s defensive line also picked up an All-Conference USA Second Team selection for J-Rock Swain.

Now, Green’s career will take him into the Big 12 where he will represent Hoover at a historically-successful Mountaineers program as part of Rodriguez’s second stint in Morgantown.