North Carolina A&T

North Carolina A&T head football coach Sam Washington announced Keith Willis as an assistant coach on his staff on June 14, 2022. Willis will coach A&T's defensive linemen and serve as the team's defensive run coordinator. 

Willis, a former NFL standout, has more than 25 years of coaching experience on both the collegiate and professional levels. He comes to A&T from Division II Edinboro University, where he served as the defensive line/assistant head coach for The Fighting Scots. Two defensive linemen earned Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Western Division defensive second-team all-conference honors in 2021.

Before landing at Edinboro, spent time with the Tennessee Titans. Willis served as the assistant defensive line coach in 2016 and 2017. In 2016, the Titans ranked second in the NFL in run defense, the highest run defense ranking for the team since 2003. In addition, defensive tackle Jurrell Casey earned his second Pro Bowl invite as he set a new career-high in quarterback pressures (29) to go along with five sacks.

 Willis came to the Titans after three years (2013-15) as the defensive line coach for the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League (CFL). In 2015, the Alouettes finished second in the league in total sacks (55), led by John Bowman's league-leading 19.

Before his time in the CFL, Willis spent 18 years as a college defensive line coach, including stops at North Carolina State (2007-12), Boston College (2001-06), Cincinnati (1999-00) and Slippery Rock (1995-98).

During his four seasons as the defensive line coach, Slippery Rock won 37 games, winning the PSAC Western Division in 1997 and '98. Over the two-season span, The Rock went 23-4 and reached the Division II national semifinals in 1998.

In 2000, he helped the University of Cincinnati Bearcats to an 8-4 record, capped by a 25-14 win over Marshall in the Motor City Bowl.

Boston College made six bowl appearances during Willis' six-year stint, winning all six. In addition to the postseason success, Willis developed five professional players, including Mathias Kiwanuka. Kiwanuka earned All-America honors; the Big East named him player of the year in 2004 and the New York Giants selected him in the first round of the 2006 NFL Draft.

The N.C. State Wolfpack went to four bowl games during Willis' six years there. He coached five players with the Wolfpack who moved on to play professionally.
A native of Newark, N.J., Willis completed work on his undergraduate degree from Northeastern University in therapeutic recreation with a concentration in juvenile delinquency in 1988.

As a player in the NFL, Willis played 139 games during his 11-year NFL career and totaled 59 sacks, 224 tackles and one interception. He entered the league as an undrafted college free agent from Northeastern and spent most of his career with the Pittsburgh Steelers (1982-91). He also spent time with Buffalo and Washington.