Former Oklahoma State Player, Assistant, Defensive Coordinator Bill Young Remembered

STILLWATER – Former Oklahoma State defensive end and linebacker, assistant coach, and defensive coordinator Bill Young has passed away. Young was living in Tulsa in retirement and developed bilateral pneumonia and had been hospitalized before passing away. Young was an Oklahoma State football lifer, a football lifer, that many folks like myself, will tell you the old coach treated all of us better than deserved. Young especially liked coaching the players that were unsung and made it more on guts and effort than pure talent.

“Bill Young was a first-class person, a first-class coach and he made the world a better place,” said Oklahoma State football coach Mike Gundy

Now, let’s not get too silly here. Young liked coaching the really talented players too. He coached a lot of each brand in his career.

Young was born in Hereford, Texas and attended Grant High School in Oklahoma City. He was a Cowboy linebacker and defensive end from 1965 through 1967 and was an academic all-Big Eight selection as a player. After earning a bachelor's degree in education at OSU and a master's degree in education at Central Oklahoma, he spent six years in the Oklahoma high school ranks at Carl Albert and Putnam City West.

Tulsa World

Young in 2011.

Young's collegiate coaching stops have included OSU, where he coached the offensive and defensive lines from 1976 through 1978. He also spent a year at Iowa State before joining the staff at Tulsa, where he coached from 1980-84, serving as defensive coordinator from 1983-84.

He spent three years coaching the defensive line at Arizona State before three straight stints as a defensive coordinator (Ohio State, Oklahoma and Southern California). After a season as the defensive line coach of the Detroit Lions, Young returned the college game and spent 2002 through 2007 as the defensive coordinator at Kansas, prior to joining the Hurricanes. He would finish his coaching career as a defensive coordinator at Oklahoma State for Mike Gundy through 2013 before one more stint as the defensive coordinator at Tulsa.

With Young coordinating, the Oklahoma State defense was the nation's most opportunistic from 2010-11, as the Cowboys forced an NCAA-best 78 turnovers over those two seasons. OSU led the nation with 44 turnovers forced in 2011 and was fifth with 34 in 2010. Oklahoma State also led the nation in turnover margin and fumbles recovered and ranked second in the nation in passes intercepted in 2011. OSU led the Big 12 in scoring defense for conference games and was 12th nationally in red zone defense.

Young's accomplishments are many. He has been the part of 16 bowl teams. His final defensive unit at Kansas was No. 12 nationally in total defense and fourth in scoring defense. While at USC, Young's Trojan defenders led the Pac-10 in total defense and were second nationally in takeaways.

Young loved football, but he also loved his family and especially his wife, Lawana. 

Bill Young was only out of football and retired for just over a year. He truly deserves to rest in peace. Many of us love him and will miss him.