Florida A&M coach Willie Simmons leaves for next step toward a dream job in Power 5
Simmons will join Duke, winner of the Birmingham Bowl, as running backs coach.
Florida A&M’s success under head football coach Willie Simmons hasn’t gone unnoticed. But the attention giveth and the attention taketh away.
Three Florida State players recently announced that they’re transferring across the street to FAMU, inspired by the neighboring school’s victory in the Celebration Bowl and HBCU national championship. But the spotlight on Simmons’ six seasons with the Rattlers (45-13) – after an impressive three years at Prairie View A&M (21-11) – has drawn him away from HBCUs and into college football’s highest level.
Simmons resigned from FAMU on Monday after three consecutive Top 25 finishes in the Football Championship Subdivision to become the running backs coach at Duke. He leaves Tallahassee despite a gallant effort by the FAMU National Alumni Association, which reportedly raised more than $138,000 to help increase Simmons’ compensation.
“It is with mixed emotions that I announce the departure of coach Willie Simmons,” athletic director Tiffani-Dawn B. Sykes said in a statement, adding she’s “both proud and sad to see him go.
“Coach Simmons has been transparent about his aspirations to become a Power 5 head football coach, and I am thrilled that he has been offered an opportunity to take a significant step toward achieving that goal,” Sykes said.
Fans and alumni feared this day was coming for Simmons, 43, who in 2021 guided the Rattlers’ transition from the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) to the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC). Since then, FAMU has shredded the SWAC, going 22-2 in league play and winning the championship last season. Simmons reportedly turned down an offer in 2021 to become running backs coach at South Carolina, but he couldn’t resist this latest opportunity in the Football Bowl Subdivision.
“After days of fervent prayer and reflection, it is with an immense sense of humility and gratitude to announce that my family and I have decided to transition into the next chapter of my coaching career,” Simmons wrote Monday in a statement. “My time as the Head Football Coach at FAMU has been truly amazing, and my wife and I are forever grateful to all of Rattler Nation for embracing and loving us the way only Rattler Nation can.”
Simmons felt the FAMU love, but it couldn’t overcome the FBS lure. He worked with new Duke head coach Manny Diaz when they were assistants at Middle Tennessee State from 2007 to 2009, and Diaz’s son Colin served as a FAMU graduate assistant in 2019. With 18 years of experience on his coaching resume – including 66-24 as a head coach with no losing seasons – Simmons said it’s time for the next step toward landing the top job at a Power 5 school.
“Throughout my coaching career, I’ve checked many boxes,” he said in an interview with HBCU Gameday. “I’ve been a playcaller. I’ve been a head coach. I’ve won a championship. I’ve put guys in the NFL. We recruited at a high level. We’ve done a lot of things.
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“Looking at where I want to ultimately be in my career – to have the type of platform on a national stage to lead young men, to have a voice that resonates throughout college football, not just the HBCU landscape – I think this was a pivotal step for me to take,” he said. “We have to position ourselves to do those things. I would love to think that could happen at FAMU. The reality of it is – it just hasn’t.
Simmons noted that only three HBCU head coaches have gone directly to jobs as FBS head coaches. Willie Jefferies went from South Carolina State to Wichita State in 1979; Jay Hopson (a white coach) went from Alcorn State to Southern Miss in 2016; and Deion Sanders went from Jackson State to Colorado last season. The latter, “for all intents and purposes, is a one-off,” Simmons said. “There’s only one Deion “Prime” Sanders.”
FAMU’s only SWAC losses were in 2021 and 2022, both against Jackson State under Sanders. The Rattlers were perfect in league play last year as they ascended to the top of HBCU football. With alum Markquese Bell making headlines as a Dallas Cowboys rookie, Simmons and FAMU were hot.
But the Rattlers’ situation has cooled since James Colzie III was named interim head coach. Two former FSU players who were headed to FAMU have decommitted and re-entered the transfer portal.
The success gave, and now the success has taken away.
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