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List of Florida A&M Rattlers head football coaches

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Jake Gaither served as head coach from 1945–1969 and won 20 conference and 8 national championship during his tenure with the Rattlers.

The Florida A&M Rattlers college football team represents Florida A&M University in the East Division of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC), as part of the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision. The program has had 19 head coaches, and 1 interim head coach, since it began play during the 1907 season. Since January 2024, James Colzie III has served as Florida A&M's head coach.[1]

Six coaches have led Florida A&M in postseason bowl games: William M. Bell, Jake Gaither, Rudy Hubbard, Ken Riley, Billy Joe, and Willie Simmons. Seven coaches also won conference championships: Gaither captured twenty, Bell three, and Hubbard two, as a member of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference; Joe captured five, Riley two, and Taylor one as a member of Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference; Simmons captured one as a member of the SWAC. Gaither captured eight and Bell and Hubbard both captured two Black college football national championships. Gaither also won the 1962 AP small college national championship and Hubbard won the 1978 NCAA Division I-AA football national championship.

Gaither is the leader in seasons coached, with 25 years as head coach and games coached (244), won (204), and highest winning percentage at 0.844. Jazz Byrd has the lowest winning percentage of those who have coached more than one game, with 0.222. Of the 19 different head coaches who have led the Rattlers, Gaither, Hubbard, Joe, and Joe Taylor have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

Key

[edit]
Key to symbols in coaches list
General Overall Conference Postseason[A 1]
No. Order of coaches[A 2] GC Games coached CW Conference wins PW Postseason wins
DC Division championships OW Overall wins CL Conference losses PL Postseason losses
CC Conference championships OL Overall losses CT Conference ties PT Postseason ties
NC National championships OT Overall ties[A 3] C% Conference winning percentage
† Elected to the College Football Hall of Fame O% Overall winning percentage[A 4]

Coaches

[edit]
List of head football coaches showing season(s) coached, overall records, conference records, postseason records, championships and selected awards[A 5]
No. Name Season(s) GC OW OL OT O% CW CL CT C% PW PL PT DC CC NC Awards
1 Jubie Bragg 1907–1909
1920–1925
1930–1932 		29 9 17 3 0.362 1 14 2 0.118 — — — — 0 0 —
2 Jazz Byrd 1926–1929 18 3 13 2 0.222 1 11 0 0.083 — — — — 0 0 —
3 Ted A. Wright 1933
1935 		6 7 7 1 0.500 4 4 0 0.500 — — — — 0 0 —
4 Eugene J. Bragg 1934 6 4 2 0 0.667 2 1 0 0.667 — — — — 0 0 —
5 William M. Bell 1936–1942 61 46 9 6 0.803 34 6 2 0.833 5 2 1 — 3 2 – 1938
1942 		—
6 Herman Nielson 1943–1944 17 8 7 2 0.529 5 0 2 0.857 0 0 0 — 0 0 —
7 Jake Gaither† 1945–1969 244 204 36 4 0.844 119 3 0 0.975 12 13 1 3 20 8 – 1950
1952
1953
1954
1957
1959
1961
1962 		NAIA Coach of the Year (1969)
8 Pete Griffin 1970 10 5 5 0 0.500 3 1 0 0.750 0 0 0 0 0 0 —
9 Clarence Montgomery 1971 11 6 5 0 0.545 3 1 0 0.750 0 0 0 0 0 0 —
10 Big Jim Williams 1972–1973 22 10 12 0 0.455 5 3 0 0.625 0 0 0 0 0 0 —
11 Rudy Hubbard† 1974–1985 134 83 48 3 0.631 30 9 1 0.763 7 0 0 — 2 2 – 1977
1978 		—
12 Ken Riley 1986–1993 87 45 40 2 0.529 23 13 0 0.639 0 1 0 — 2 0 —
13 Billy Joe† 1994–2004 132 86 46 0 0.652 56 17 0 0.767 3 7 0 — 5 0 —
14 Rubin Carter 2005–2007 33 16 17 — 0.485 12 14 — 0.462 0 0 — — 0 0 —
15 Joe Taylor† 2008–2012 54 35 19 — 0.648 26 12 — 0.684 0 0 — — 1 0 —
16 Earl Holmes 2012–2014 22 6 16 — 0.273 5 9 — 0.357 0 0 — — 0 0 —
Int Corey Fuller
[A 6] 		2014 4 1 3 — 0.250 1 3 — 0.250 0 0 — — 0 0 —
17 Alex Wood 2015–2017 33 8 25 — 0.242 7 17 — 0.292 0 0 — — 0 0 —
18 Willie Simmons 2018–2023 58 45 13 — 0.776 32 5 — 0.865 1 1 — 1 1 0 —
19 James Colzie III 2024–present 0 0 0 — – 0 0 — – 0 0 — 0 0 0 —

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ Although the first Rose Bowl Game was played in 1902, it has been continuously played since the 1916 game, and is recognized as the oldest bowl game by the NCAA. "—" indicates any season prior to 1916 when postseason games were not played.[2]
  2. ^ A running total of the number of head coaches, with coaches who served separate tenures being counted only once. Interim head coaches are represented with "Int" and are not counted in the running total. "—" indicates the team played but either without a coach or no coach is on record. "X" indicates an interim year without play.
  3. ^ Overtime rules in college football were introduced in 1996, making ties impossible in the period since.[3]
  4. ^ When computing the win–loss percentage, a tie counts as half a win and half a loss.[4]
  5. ^ Statistics correct as of the end of the 2023 NCAA Division I FCS football season.
  6. ^ Corey Fuller was named interim head coach after Earl Holmes was fired as head coach after a 2–6 start to the season.[5]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Mire, Tommy (January 30, 2024). "FAMU promotes former FSU football standout James Colzie as next head coach". SI.com. Retrieved September 28, 2024.
  2. ^ National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) (2011). Bowl/All-Star Game Records (PDF). Indianapolis, Indiana: NCAA. pp. 5–10. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 5, 2011. Retrieved August 21, 2011.
  3. ^ Whiteside, Kelly (August 25, 2006). "Overtime system still excites coaches". USA Today. McLean, Virginia. Archived from the original on September 6, 2010. Retrieved September 25, 2009.
  4. ^ Finder, Chuck (September 6, 1987). "Big plays help Paterno to 200th". The New York Times. New York City. Archived from the original on September 28, 2013. Retrieved October 22, 2009.
  5. ^ "Florida A&M fires Earl Holmes". ESPN.com. Associated Press. October 29, 2014. Retrieved September 28, 2024.
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