Willie Tillman

Title

Head Coach, Football
Email

wjtillman@tiu.edu
Phone

847-317-7079
Alma Mater

Purdue University ('98)

Willie Tillman joined the TIU coaching staff in June 2021 as the Defensive Coordinator before being promoted as the Head Coach a month later.

In 2022, Tillman led the Trojans to a 1-10 overall record, earning their lone win in a conference dual against Judson University to close out the season on a high-note. A solid recruiting year for the head coach, Tillman's star players of the season were freshman as three earned all-conference honors alongside a pair of veterans. Freshman Cameron Jones and Jeremy Walton earned first and second team, respectively, while Deven Arevalo was named Honorable Mention with Cameron Outlaw (graduate student) and Jadyen Fett (junior). Jones, Walton, and fellow freshman quarterback Liam Mickle were named either NCCAA or MSFA player of the week at one juncture. In the classroom, junior linebacker Logan Shears was named NAIA and NCCAA Scholar-Athlete as well as named to the CSC All-District Team.

In Tillman’s first game at the helm, TIU snapped a seventeen-game losing streak and went on to win back-to-back games for the first time since 2016. The Trojans then ended a 25-game losing streak against conference opponents by beating Missouri Baptist University in October 2021. During the 2021 season, Coach Tillman tripled the TIU win total in just his first year as Head Coach. Off the field, Coach Tillman has involved himself within the University beyond football as he helped baptize three of his players in the 2021 season.

Before arriving at TIU, Tillman spent the 2019-2020 seasons at Lakewood High School in St. Petersburg, FL. He averaged 35 points per game as the Offensive Coordinator and only 6 points per game as the Defensive Coordinator while going 20-2 during the span of those two seasons.

As an athlete, Tillman played Wide Receiver at Purdue University from 1994 to 1997, followed by a brief stint in the Arena league with the Roanoke Steam in 2000. Since his start in coaching in 1998, Tillman has moved up the coaching ladder from being a student assistant at Purdue, making a stop in the NFL with the Baltimore Ravens, building an NCAA Division II program at Florida Tech, to ultimately landing his first collegiate head coaching job here at TIU. Tillman also has previous experience at the NAIA level as a Defensive Coordinator at Bethel College in Tennessee. Coach Tillman’s deep roots in Florida have allowed for a strong pipeline on the recruiting trail as he looks to create a national footprint for the university.

Year(s)	Institution	Title
1998	Purdue	Graduate Assistant
1999	Maine Maritime	Pass Game Coordinator/Quarterbacks & Wide Receivers Coach
2000	Anderson University	Defensive Backs Coach
2001-2003	Florida Southern College	Assistant Men’s Basketball Coach
2003	Baltimore Ravens	Coaching Fellowship
2003-2006	Bethel College	Defensive Coordinator/Defensive Backs
2007	Florida A&M University	Defensive Backs Coach
2008	Murray State University	Wide Receivers Coach/Recruiting Coordinator
2009	Merritt Island High School	Defensive Coordinator/Defensive Backs Coach
2010-2011	Bethel University	Associate Head Coach/Defensive Coordinator/Recruiting Coordinator
2012-2015	Florida Institute of Technology	Defensive Coordinator/Outside Linebackers Coach
2016-2017	Westminster Academy	Head Varsity Football Coach
2017-2018	Valdosta State University	Defensive Line Football Coach
2019	Next College Student Athlete (NCSA)	National Recruiting Specialist
2018-2021	Lakewood High School	Associate Head Coach/Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks Coach
2021-2022	Trinity International University	Head Football Coach

The Tillman File

YEAR	SCHOOL	OVERALL	CONFERENCE	POSTSEASON
2021	TIU	3-8	1-6	---
2022	TIU	1-10	1-6	---

Career Totals

YEARS	SCHOOL	OVERALL	CONFERENCE
2021-22	TIU	4-18	2-12
2021-22.	TOTALS	4-18	2-12