While the HBCU sports world has been focused on the departure of Willie Simmons from FAMU, Dr. Claudine Gay was in the midst of being run out of her position as the first black woman president in the history of Harvard University.
While those two moves may not have a lot in common on the surface, there is an ugly thread uniting two black women in positions of power an influence.
Gay stepped down from her position on Jan. 2 following controversy over ‘duplicative language’ from papers she wrote as a student. But the truth of the matter is her short term (she took over July 1, 2023) was marked with undermining from conservatives who weren’t keen on having a black woman – an outspoken one at that – over such a prestigious institution.
Florida A&M University VP of Intercollegiate Athletics Tiffani-Dawn Sykes and Dr. Gay have a lot in common. Both women have spent over half their lives working in higher education, Dr. Gray in academia and Sykes in athletics. Both women have spent time in the Ivy League, Gay at her alma mater Sykes was an assistant AD at Dartmouth before coming to FAMU. And both women have had to deal with the backlash of being a black woman in charge of a hallowed institution.
Florida A&M’s Athletic Director position was held by seven men (including two terms) over the previous decade prior to Sykes’ official start on Jan. 2, 2023. The 43-year-old started her career as a sports information director at St. Paul’s College and has has worked multiple positions in several athletic departments over the past two-plus decades — Division I and Division II as well as HBCU and PWI.
The Virginia native and two-time HBCU graduate (Virginia State and Grambling State) spoke from the heart the previous fall about how working at FAMU had been her dream job for years. The baseball program won its first SWAC title in the spring, and this fall duplicated that feat in football before winning the Celebration Bowl and HBCU national title. It also managed to get all of its student athletes certified well before the start of the college football season one year after the entire nation saw that FAMU did NOT have its compliance house in order.
Yet from the beginning there has been a very vocal minority of folks who have questioned her credentials to get the job and the ability to get the job done. That is to be expected at a place that has a proud athletic tradition such as Florida A&M. But from the beginning it became apparent that at least some of the scruitinty Sykes recieved had little to do with her background or resume.
There have been many ugly comments via social media and otherwise regarding her attire and visibility throughout her short tenure. Sykes is a woman of stature who stands out in a crowd without effort. And she is comfortable in her skin. This is what we tell our daughters we want them to be, yet there are many within our own communities – the HBCU community as well as the black community at whole – who are nitpicking and imposing their personal preferences on this black woman.
Much of those criticisms were primarily outliers on social media until the past week. The build up and ultimate departure of Simmons has once again shifted the gaze and the ire of fans upset over Simmons’ departure in Sykes’ direction over rumours of inaction in being proactive about keeping him at FAMU. Never mind the fact that Simmons had previously flirted with Power Five jobs and even told HBCU Gameday that he moved on because he felt the pathway to becoming a Power Five coach just wasn’t there from an HBCU.
Thursday Sykes posted a photo of herself in the weight room working out with the players on a machine. Her tweet prompted a response of a gentleman admonishing her for the post.
“Post showing you’re at work actively engaged in getting FAMU a new head coach & how the program is solidly behind the interim,” the tweet read. “Post showing how moving forward FAMU is going to do all we can to offer coaches the best pay & athletes the best facilities.”
Sykes graciously responded to the tweet.
“Thanks for your feedback. I was doing a walkthrough to identify naming rights opportunities in the fieldhouse to generate revenue, enjoyed an impromptu moment with my students & didn’t even know a pic was being taken,” Sykes tweeted. “To sponsor a room, email marquel.broussard@famu.edu for info.”
Those of us who have followed Sykes’ ascent to AD know that she is heavily focused on student-athlete experience and has a knack for connecting with them. The photo and the tweet were her being unapologetically who she is despite facing the biggest challenge of her career. No doubt about it, replacing a coach that just won a national title and restored the pride of an iconic HBCU program is a big task. Any AD in her position would be facing pressure. But there is nothing of substance to suggest that Sykes is incapable of doing her job well.
But the truth of the matter is Tiffani Sykes should not have had to respond to such a trivial criticism – and likely would not have had to if she was a man. It is sad that in 2024 the misyogny is keeping pace with the racism for a black woman in power – at an HBCU at that.
To be sure, she’s not the first woman to experience it, nor will she be the last. But it is clear that we have a long way to go in the HBCU world in terms of allowing women to be unapologetically themselves without being policed on trival matters such as attire and having their credentials over-critiqued by those (primarily men) who have never spent a day in athletics administration at an institution of higher learning.