By Dolly Chang
Jamal Willis, the former BYU football player, is now at a different stage of his life.
Wills is not only established athletically, but also academically and in his career.
Graduating from BYU with a sociology degree and earning his master’s in education counseling, Willis has worked in the Jordan School District as an educational counselor. Also, he has been running the “We Got Skills” football and basketball camps since 1998.
Moreover, he was selected as the head coach at Payson High, and became the only black head coach in Utah history. Because of that, he received the Black Coaches Association Achievement Award at the 2001 BCA classic.
“It’s a big honor, and a big recognition for the minorities,” he said. “Not just for me, but for the state of Utah.”
Now, Willis is working as an academic adviser in the athletic department at BYU.
He sits in the office, talking with student-athletes about the academic plans for the fall. He strolls through the Student Athletic Building and chats with the student-athletes to see how they are doing with school, sports and life.
These are the things Willis does on a daily basis. He has been working as an academic adviser in the athletic department at BYU for the past year and a half.
“As an athlete, you deal with a lot of conflicts and problems, and I was always able to view my struggles and work through it,” Willis said. “And I think that’s what helped me being an academic counselor.”
Willis is heavily involved with the athletic academic advisement center. He is currently in charge over football, baseball, women’s and men’s tennis. He said he enjoys it, and it’s also a way of contributing to BYU.
“I want to give something back to BYU,” he said. “And working for the athletic department, it’s the best way.”
A football player said he loves working with Willis because he feels very comfortable with him; Willis doesn’t only help him with school, but also encourages him on the sports field.
As a former football player at BYU, Willis is being recognized as one of the best.
“If you ask me who are the best football players in BYU, Jamal is definitely on the top list,” said Lance Reynolds, the BYU running backs coach and assistant head coach.
The recognition and great achievements didn’t come easy. Coming from Las Vegas, Willis was a minority at BYU. He wasn’t LDS at the time. He is black. All these facts gave him a tough time breaking into the Cougar circle.
“[It was] not the honor code that was hard,” he said. “But to fit in here, that was what was hard for me.”
Eventually, Willis worked through all the obstacles. During the time he played for BYU from 1991-94, he became the school’s all-time leader in rushing, with 2,970 yards – a record since broken by Curtis Brown. Willis is one of only six Cougars to ever rush for more than 1,000 yards in a season; he is also BYU’s leader in career touchdowns scored at 40. He was named MVP of the Copper Bowl. For Willis, the experience of playing football for BYU means a lot.
“It was a great opportunity; I received great education,” he said. “[I] played for a school that had great wins, and was highly ranked nationally.”
After finishing his college football career, he went on to play in the NFL with the San Francisco 49ers for two years and one year with Denver. He said it’s one of the highlights of his football career, especially since the 49ers won the Super Bowl the year before he went there.
“Being selected to the team that just won the Super Bowl, it means a lot to me,” he said.
The two-year coaching experience at Payson High was one of the achievements Willis is proud of. He said from coaching he has learned better to motivate others, rather than just himself.
“[The fact] you can play doesn’t mean you can coach,” he said. “You really have to think, as a coach, how to motivate others, and that’s a big difference from playing to coaching.”
After the coaching career, Willis jumped to an even higher level with his career. He started a youth football league in Utah called the NYFL. He puts his passion and desire of football into the youth football. He said football is something he loves and he wants to help the youth to achieve their goals.
