Part 2 of a 2 Part Series
FAMU affinity groups have poured a solid $1 million annually into the football program. That makes the conglomerate the single biggest contributor to Florida A&M Athletics. It has not always been that way. Coming off a decade of mostly losing seasons, Rattlers were fed up with everyone working in a silo and expecting things to get better for the storied program.
The rich history of FAMU football can stand up to any HBCU program. From the historic conference record of Jake Gaither, winning 22 of 25 SIAC championships to Rudy Hubbard and the historic 1978 team winning the inaugural Division I-AA (FCS) national championship to Billy Joe’s historic run of the 1990s where they won more NCAA Playoff games than any other school, FAMU has seen football at the highest levels.
Wallowing in mediocrity was an embarrassment to the program. With a rotation of athletics directors, each with his/her idea of how to rebuild the program, novel ideas were a dime-a-dozen. Nothing worked to attain and sustain a winning program. Meanwhile, attendance was steady. Florida A&M annually finished in the Top 10 in attendance for FCS schools, often landing in the Top 5.
Robinson brought stability to the university side
With the hiring of Larry Robinson, Ph.D. as the 12th permanent president of the university in 2017, FAMU’s academic side began to steady. Issues with SACS, processes, and instability began to subside as the scientists by education began strategically setting the school on solid ground.
With Robinson’s hiring of Simmons, it brought stability to the football program. He was a perfect fit for FAMU, as was thought by athletics director John Eason who hired him. He was young, energetic, brilliant, and respected the culture of FAMU. As they say, he was just what the doctor ordered.
Simmons brought winning ways back to FAMU
In 2018, his first season, the Rattlers would go 6-5, ending the season with a loss in the Florida Classic. That made eight consecutive losses to arch-rival Bethune-Cookman. That left a sour taste in everyone’s mouth. While Rattler nation was happy to finally get on the winning side of things, it wasn’t enough.
This is where the brilliance of Simmons building the program back up hit full stride. Simmons challenged FAMUans to do more. He requested investment from everyone to get the desired outcome they sought on the field.
After 2018, Simmons never won less than nine games each season. In 2021, the Rattlers even received a bid to the FCS playoffs for the first time since Billy Joe left the program. Probably one of Simmons’ most exciting feats was to end the domination in the Florida Classic by B-CU. The Rattlers are now on a three-game winning streak in the rivalry game.
The FAMU National Alumni Association, at the time under the leadership of Col. Gregory Clark, stepped up immensely. Previously the FAMU NAA had focused primarily on raising money for academic scholarships, but began to concentrate concurrently on athletics fundraising. That has continued under the current leadership of Curtis Johnson.
While the Rattler Boosters, National Rattler “F” Club, FAMU National Alumni Association and FAMU Foundation were already contributing $100,000 to the head coaches’ salary, it was pressed for more funds. FAMU Athletics would revive one of the most successful fundraising efforts to date. Named the “Strike Tour,” it is a concept visualized by former Associate Athletics Director and Senior Woman Administrator Angela Suggs. It was a tour through hotbeds of Rattlers where a host committee would gather donors and present the donations at a reception in their respective cities. It was started in 2014 with head coach Earl Homes, but did not continue under Alex Wood. This effort grew from over $100,000 in its first effort to over $500,000 in 2021
With the $100,000 going toward coaches’ salaries and the $500,000 for the Strike Tour, donations to the football program exceeded $600,000. These same groups were asked to put into Summer scholarships for the football team. Mostly with the FAMU Foundation contributing to this effort, another $250,000-$300,000 annually was provided to FAMU Athletics. That boosted the total donation to the program to around $900,000.
When you add in the nutrition initiative, the cooling and recovery station, and various other requests from the athletics department, these affinity groups were in fact as a conglomerate the school’s answer to big-money donors. FAMU Athletics was not raising outside of ticket sales anywhere close to the amount that was donated. Revenues from advertisements, sponsorships, and the such could not compete with the hard cash donated by the groups.
A host of issues and circumstances led to tension with Sykes
Vice President and Director of Athletics Tiffani-Dawn Sykes came aboard in January of 2023. Her first order of business was to fine tune the newly-implemented athletics academics and compliance department to standards set forth by successful institutions. After the messy eligibility crisis of 2022, Robinson had taken control of the academics and compliance department outside of athletics and funded it through the university.
Around June or July of 2023 is when things began to get rocky. Without much prior notice, season ticket holders and Investing in Champions (FAMU athletics investment package) participants noticed sweeping changes and substantial increases in the packages. In addition, a total revamping of the parking at the stadium would take place. This was not the fault of Sykes as the lot is owned by the university. Additionally, a popular tailgating spot was terminated. Sykes said a risk management report deemed the area unsafe for tailgating.
Then there was the first game. The home opener on Sept. 16 against the University of West Florida. The gates did not open in time for the game. Through the first quarter there was less than 25% of the fans in the stands. Some season ticket holders and game ticket holders did not get into the game until the second quarter. Long lines and a complete failure in game operations led to this debacle. In many ways stakeholders felt this was an unforgivable offense.
This explains why Sykes’ attempt to select a coach without input from the money groups was a slight to them. For outsiders that did not understand what the big deal was, it was because these groups had elevated their financial involvement in the program, but were discounted when it decided to move forward. FAMU Football did not get to be national champions because of one person, it was a program invested in and sustained for six solid years that led to the team hoisting the Cricket Celebration Bowl trophy on Dec.16, 2023.
This group that had written the checks for the football team’s ascension felt that the program was solid, even with the resignation of Simmons. Simmons stated to HBCU Gameday at his only in-person interview since his departure that if FAMU were to appoint one of the coaches to the head coach position, the 2024 team could be even better than the 2023 team.
That didn’t happen. With the players, donors and alumni pushing for an internal hire, Sykes was set on remaking the program with someone from the outside. FAMU football players said Sykes continued to push the notion of bringing in Shawn Gibbs, but they were not buying it. This is why Gibbs was given the treatment he was after emerging as a candidate. No doubt Gibbs is a good coach. He has won 16 games in two years at Fort Valley State. The actions taken against him were a by-product of the Rattler nation rejecting the idea of bringing in someone from the outside, while in their minds a six-year span of dedicated donations and internal processes had brought the program back to relevance.
As the committee meeting on Jan. 21 rolled on, it was clear that the groups had chosen four insiders to be considered for the job. Moderating the meeting was Florida A&M Chief Operating Officer Donald Palm, Ph.D. He and the search firm strongly suggested that a fifth candidate be added. Even with that, it is apparent the supermajority of ballots had the same five candidates. It was an expression of the groups using their voice to promote maintaining the current process with a coach currently on staff or close to the staff.
A lot of damage has been done to the program in just over 20 days
Even if FAMU were to quickly hire one of the coaches on staff, severe damage would have been done to the infrastructure that was in place. A bevy of top-caliber athletes who had committed to transferring to FAMU saw the process playing out and de-committing. Most notably, probably the best running back in Florida. Rodney Hill, a former Florida State University standout running back, was committed to Florida A&M. Clemson University tight end Sage Ennis also committed to FAMU citing the way FAMU uses the tight end in their schemes. Hill decommitted from FAMU and is now headed to the University of Miami, while Ennis will now play for the Virginia Cavaliers. These are just a couple of examples of talent lost and why FAMU is now behind in recruiting when they were sitting pretty at the end of December.
Even staffing has been affected. The departure of FAMU Director of Football Recruiting Devin Rispress sent shock waves through Florida A&M fans. He was a major part of the secret sauce. Simmons said he was a much better coach with the impact players Rispress was bringing in. He caught the eye of Deion Sanders and is now recruiting for the Colorado Buffalos. LaTroy Johnson, former FAMU Director of Football Operations has departed for South Carolina State. These are two key pieces to the program that greatly contributed to its success. With the uncertainty looming about the impending hiring, this is why the delay has caused harm to Florida A&M Football.
The FAMU National Alumni Association and the Rattler Boosters have expressed their frustrations in both letters and verbally. It has been an effort to get everyone on the same page to beat arch-rival B-CU, win the SWAC Championship, and win the Cricket Celebration Bowl. The reason Florida A&M faithful are so upset at the process is because they just don’t want to lose the feeling of being on top.
Source link : hbcugameday.com
