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Coaching Career

• OSU graduate Bill Young returned to Stillwater to join Mike Gundy's staff as defensive coordinator in January of 2009. Young, who has a long history of success at the highest levels of football, came to OSU after spending the 2008 season as the defensive coordinator at the University of Miami (Fla.).
• He was instrumental in one of the most impressive defensive turnarounds in the NCAA in 2009. The Cowboys ranked fourth in the Big 12 and 31st nationally in total defense, allowing 332.54 yards per game. OSU's rushing defense allowed just 95.7 yards per outing, a total which ranked fourth in the league and 11th nationally. That mark broke the existing school record of 99.2 yards per game set in 1983. The year prior to Young's arrival, OSU was No. 93 in total defense.
• Adding to OSU's 2009 defensive improvement, the Cowboys racked up 29 sacks after recording just 15 all of the 2008 season. OSU also had 18 interceptions compared to only 12 in '08.
• Prior to his year at Miami, Young was part of the major turnaround at Kansas, where he coached from 2002 through 2007. His 2007 Jayhawks finished the year No. 12 nationally in total defense and fourth in scoring defense as KU won the Orange Bowl. It was the highest national ranking for a KU defense in 39 years. His 2005 Kansas squad led the Big 12 in rushing defense.
• 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 then made the move with TU head coach John Cooper to Arizona State.
• Young spent three years coaching the defensive line at ASU 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 to the college game and spent 2002 through 2007 as the defensive coordinator at Kansas, prior to joining the Hurricanes.
• Young's accomplishments are many. He has been part of 17 bowl teams. While at USC, Young's Trojan defenders led the Pac-10 in total defense and were second nationally in takeaways.
• His longest coaching stint came at Ohio State, where he was the Buckeyes' defensive coordinator and defensive line coach from 1988 through 1995.

Playing Career

• Bill Young was an outside linebacker and defensive end at Oklahoma State. He was a three-year starter and an academic all-Big Eight honoree. He received OSU's outstanding football award in 1967, when he was also named honorable mention all-conference. He was named an alternate to the Oklahoma high school all-state team after his senior season at Oklahoma City Grant.

Personal

• Young was born in Hereford, Texas, but attended Grant High School in Oklahoma City. He earned a bachelor's degree in education at OSU in 1968 and a master's degree in education at Central Oklahoma in 1971. He spent six years in the Oklahoma high school ranks at Carl Albert and Putnam City West before returning to OSU as a graduate assistant coach. His wife, Lawana, is also a native Oklahoman and a graduate of Northeastern State in Tahlequah.