After being out of college football for two seasons, former NFL linebacker and ex-Texas Tech defensive coordinator James Willis calls himself "very blessed" and "very fortunate" to be back in.

For that he can thank UL head coach Mark Hudspeth, some professional connections and a program willing to offer him a second chance.

The Ragin’ Cajuns on Thursday announced the much-awaited addition of Williams as their defensive coordinator, replacing the ousted Greg Stewart.

His hiring is pending approval by the University of Louisiana System Board of Supervisors, according to a news release from the school.

"It has been a while since I’ve been in the college game," Willis said by phone Thursday from his hometown of Huntsville, Ala., where he and his three-child family were packing for a move. "It made me realize how much I really do value spending time with the younger kids."

Willis coached linebackers at Rhode Island, Temple and, from 2006-08, his alma mater, Auburn. He was associate head coach and outside linebackers coach of rival Alabama’s 14-0 2009 national-championship team. And he spent the 2010 season as defensive coordinator at Texas Tech, where ex-Auburn coach and now-Cincinnati coach Tommy Tuberville was head coach at the time.

But Willis was dismissed from Texas Tech on Dec. 25, 2010 — during preparations for the upcoming TicketCity Bowl, and three days after a domestic violence incident involving his then-and-still wife at their Lubbock-area home.

According to reports by both Lubbock TV station Fox 34 and Al.com, Willis later "pleaded guilty to charges of assault and domestic violence and was sentenced to six months deferred probation."

Four months after losing his job with Red Raiders, he was named linebackers coach of the Hartford Colonials — a team in a league, the United Football League, whose operations are now suspended.

"It’s only by the grace of God I end up meeting Mark (Hudspeth) and getting with (UL athletic director) Scott (Farmer)," Willis said, "and then have a chance for those guys to meet me, for those guys to find out more about me and to do their homework and research and find out what kind of person I really am."

Willis said he indeed is grateful to Hudspeth, whom he did not previously know.

The two do, however, share the same Alabama-based agent.

"He (Hudspeth) has done things for me right now that nobody else was willing to do — and understandably why," Willis said. "But he actually did the homework, and he researched it.

"He talked to me, he talked to everybody surrounding me, talked to a lot of the other people that were involved with the whole story that happened back there.

"Then he found out the truth," Willis added. "Now he’s comfortable with that, comfortable as far as I’ve, quote, done my time, and sat in the corner long enough to where I could come back out and be with everybody else."

Willis, 40, and Hudspeth, 44, share common friends in the coaching business.

One is Florida head coach Will Muschamp, who was Auburn’s defensive coordinator for two seasons when Willis coached there — and whose Gators nearly were knocked off by the Cajuns last season.

Another is former Auburn assistant coach Greg Knox, a current Mississippi State assistant who was in Starkville before Hudspeth left his job as Bulldogs passing game coordinator to take over at UL.

"In this business, you don’t get your job by resumes," Willis said. "You get your job by knowing people and having relationships with people."

Still, it’s Willis’ resume that helped get in the door with Hudspeth.

The Cajun head coach lauds Willis’ major-conference experience, especially the four SEC seasons, and feels it will go far in the Sun Belt Conference.

"To me, we could not have found a better defensive coordinator to come in and lead our defense," said Hudspeth, who recently said that after "very diligent" research and an extensive background check on Willis he was "very comfortable that he has paid his dues."

"It’s gonna bring a renewed energy," Hudspeth added, "and a sense of urgency and toughness to our guys — with a wealth of experience."

Willis, who spent seven seasons in the NFL with Green Bay, Philadelphia and Seattle, does readily concede that his resume should help with credibility in the short-term.

"I think the kids now, the players now," he said, "will kind of buy into, as far as the places I’ve been and what I’ve done."

It’s what is in the store for the Cajuns long-term, however, that seems to excite him most.

UL is coming off back-to-back 9-4 seasons with back-to-back New Orleans Bowl victories in its first two seasons under Hudspeth, and Willis is well-aware of that.

"It won’t be that I’m coming in to save a sinking ship," he said.

"This is a program that is established. This is a program that is on the rise. So I want to try to help contribute to that the best I can."