This is an op-ed article written by Vaughn Wilson, his views and opinions are not intended to represent the views and opinions of the HBCU Gameday brand as a whole.
FAMU football was like a bulldozer. Billy Joe had the Rattlers rolling through the MEAC and virtually making the NCAA FCS Playoffs every year. Not only were the Rattlers getting into the playoffs, they were winning games.
Hired in 1994, Billy Joe brought in his own version of Bill Walsh’s West Coast Offense and dubbed it the Gulf Coast Offense. It was what Joe called a full-game two-minute drill. The Rattlers were littered with talented quarterbacks. Pat Bonner, Quinn Gray, Oteman Sampson, Mario Allen, Ja’Juan Seider, and the list goes on and on of the talented arms Joe would utilize to run up and down the field on his fast break offense.
The receivers were too many to name as well. NCAA record-breaking receiver Jacquay Nunnally broke Jerry Rice’s all-time record for receptions under the Billy Joe offense. With receivers like Cainon Lamb, Tariq Quayim and Dennis Bonga, the Gulf Coast Offense was a high-powered sight to see.
It was nothing for the Rattlers to score in excess of 50 points-per-game. Joe had a virtual orange and green machine. It appeared that nothing could stop the Rattlers.
New administration changes the trajectory of Rattler Football
Upon the departure of legendary FAMU President Dr. Frederick S. Humphries, FAMU’s athletics programs took a tumble under an unsure administration led by then-President Dr. Frederick Gainous. In Gainous’ defense, he was led by a heavy-handed FAMU Board of Trustees who had big ideas, but no plan to achieve them.
In 2003, without general public knowledge, the university announced that it had applied for and been accepted into the NCAA’s highest division, Division I. This put FAMU as the lone school to achieve this status. It was considered a part of the same level as the Big 10, SEC, ACC, and Pac-12 Conferences. This was done with an application of desire, but not a dependable plan to do so.
Willie Simmons came to FAMU to be the starting quarterback
With that announcement, Billy Joe’s monster of a team he had assembled was immediately dismantled. Before there was a transfer portal, FAMU had a stream of transfers from larger schools. In that 2003 class was Clemson University transfer quarterback Willie Simmons. Simmons and other transfers had convinced others to transfer in as Joe claims he had his most talented bunch to date. Simmons’ success at Clemson as a backup was just what the Rattlers needed to make that big run in the I-AA (FCS) playoffs.
However, because the administration had applied to I-A, all of the transfers who had come from Division-I were immediately deemed ineligible. Simmons, who had worked all Summer with FAMU’s new quarterback had to transfer away from FAMU and ended up playing for The Citadel, where he had a stellar senior season.
FAMU went from the top of the heap to the dungeon, all because of self-inflicted wounds. It got in its own way better than any other MEAC team could. From there the team struggled mightily and the department was an embarrassment as it would lead to a funding deficit that in some ways still haunts the university to this day. A multi-million dollar deficit established around the move to I-A has some unsettled debt to this day.
Joe recalls what was left of his team because of a change in direction forced on them by the athletic director, president, and board of trustees. “Because of going to Division-I single A and you had to adhere to a different standard, those kids dispersed and went to different universities across the country. And we were a skeletal type team after they all left,” Joe said.
Administrative mandate led to Joe’s firing
It eventually led to Joe’s firing by that same administration who had caused all the problems to begin with and set off a downward spiral of the FAMU program that did not wield another undisputed HBCU national championship until 2023.
While the core of the change by the administration is different from Billy Joe’s scenario, FAMU is facing another strong-handed change to the football program. Much like the tragic course set in 2003, the recent course is unknown to the stakeholders. If they seem hesitant, it could be ghosts of the sabotaging of the Billy Joe era that are haunting the FAMU faithful.
Whatever the case, FAMU fans will soon be handed the vision of VP/AD Sykes and will have to just “roll with it.”
What concerns most fans is the feeling of disrespect for not being kept abreast of what looks to be wholesale changes in the FAMU Football program.
And to think, the engraving is probably not even set in good on the 2023 Cricket Celebration Bowl trophy.