Williams justified the hype over his recruitment by winning state selection for Victoria as well as the Copeland Trophy.
When John Cahill took over as senior coach of Collingwood Football Club after a tumultuous season in 1982, he appointed Williams as captain, having previously worked with him at Port Adelaide.
[2][3] Port Adelaide, under Williams in his first year as senior coach in the 1999 season, finished seventh on the ladder and making the finals, but were eliminated by the eventual premiers Kangaroos.
In the 2000 season, Port Adelaide's on-field performance under Williams dropped en route to a fourteenth-place finish on the ladder with seven wins and fourteen losses.
In 2005, Port Adelaide finished eighth with eleven wins, one draw and ten losses and therefore just made the finals.
In 2006, Port missed the finals, when their on-field performance dropped, to finish twelfth with eight wins and fourteen losses.
In the 2008 season, Port Adelaide missed the finals, finishing thirteenth with seven wins and fifteen losses.
Late in the season, following the appointment of Mark Haysman as CEO, and after much conjecture in the media, Williams was offered a new 2-year contract.
At the end of the 2009 season, Port Adelaide missed the finals for the second consecutive year, finishing tenth with nine wins and thirteen losses.
[16][17][18][19] In 2016, Williams joined Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA) club AJAX to serve as its senior men's coach, starting in 2017.
[20] He served as coach for a total of two seasons, departing at the end of 2018 after the club finished second-last in Premier B and was consequently relegated to Premier C.[21][22] In September 2018, Williams was announced as new senior coach of Victorian Football League club Werribee on a three-year deal.