Adversity paved Florida A&M coach Willie Simmons’ road to Cricket Celebration Bowl

When Florida A&M University head coach Willie Simmons hoisted the Southwestern Athletic Conference championship trophy on Dec. 2 after defeating Prairie View A&M University, it was the culmination of a career goal Simmons had pursued since he first became a coach nine years ago.

“[It was] a great day for Tallahassee, FAMU and these young men,” Simmons said. “It’s great to be able to accomplish a goal that we set out for ourselves when we got together in August, so [I’m] just elated for those guys and look forward to continuing this journey.”

Simmons and the Rattlers’ yearslong road to earn their first SWAC title and berth to the Cricket Celebration Bowl includes a self-imposed postseason ban, a pandemic, academic eligibility issues and controversy stemming from an unauthorized video shoot.

Under Simmons, the 2023 SWAC coach of the year, Florida A&M recorded its first 10-win season since 1999 and finished the regular season ranked fifth in the FCS Coaches Poll. Heading into the Celebration Bowl matchup against Howard University on Saturday, the Rattlers haven’t lost to a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference team since 2019, when they fell to in-state rival Bethune-Cookman in the final game of the season.

However, Simmons, who left as coach at Prairie View A&M in December 2017 and was named coach at Florida A&M, had to navigate multiple challenges to reach this moment.

Before the 2019 football season, the NCAA sanctioned Florida A&M for allowing ineligible athletes to compete. The university imposed a postseason ban on seven varsity sports, including football, for the 2019-2020 academic year. The Rattlers, then part of the MEAC, finished the season as the unofficial conference champion with a 9-2 record (7-1 MEAC), but the bowl ban prevented the team from competing in the Celebration Bowl. North Carolina A&T State University received the MEAC berth by default and won its fourth Celebration Bowl title in five years.

The coronavirus pandemic wiped out the 2020 season for most collegiate teams. Days ahead of their 2022 season opener at North Carolina, 25 Florida A&M players were ruled academically ineligible. During the 2023 preseason, Simmons briefly suspended all football activities following an unauthorized locker room video shoot by rapper Real Boston Richey in July, and the university opened an investigation into the incident.

“We’ve faced our fair share [of adversity] here and our guys have honestly always responded,” said Ryan Smith, Florida A&M’s co-defensive coordinator. “I think it’s … the approach that you take, and for us, we kind of take the approach it doesn’t matter what happens, you still got a game to play on Saturday. At the end of the day, we go out, we fight for each other and we care about each other, and good things happen.”

Los Angeles Rams offensive assistant Kenneth “K.J.” Black, former co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for Florida A&M, watched Simmons remain unruffled amid controversy.

“No matter what, that man stays calm and be steady,” Black said. “I’ve seen some of the most random, crazy, unexpected things happen to him as I was working for him, whether it be an academic issue [or] an issue within the team. You name it, and he handles them all the same.

“He thinks things through and doesn’t react in a robust or crazy way to draw more attention or blow things out of proportion.”

This season Florida A&M ended its two-year losing streak. The Rattlers defeated SWAC East rival Jackson State University in the Orange Blossom Classic, leading to their 8-0 sweep of the SWAC.

“The motivation was just, like, don’t let it happen the third time. It happened two years in a row,” said defensive back Javan Morgan.

“After winning that game, Coach Simmons was kind of telling us, like, the ball’s in our court. Everything’s on us, and now we just had to do what we have to do.”

Several members of Florida A&M’s current football roster were freshmen on the 2019 team banned from the postseason and vividly remember the disappointment of missing the Celebration Bowl.

“I’m sure if you ask all the freshmen that came in with me who are still here, like, we always talked about that [2019 season] still,” Morgan said. “It feels like the mission is finally accomplished. We still really want to win, and we’re still gonna try and focus on the Celebration Bowl, [but] that’s like a check mark for us.

“I feel like most of the time in life you need some adversity. I feel like you just need some adversity to be the best person you can be,” Morgan said. “You need some challenges, things to knock you off your path a little to get to where you’re going. I feel that it makes you a bigger, stronger person.”

Black believes Simmons silenced a lot of critics after winning the SWAC championship.

“When he finally achieved that, I’m sure it meant the world to him, getting that monkey off his back,” Black said. “If you’re in the HBCU world, a lot of people used to say, or at least I used to hear, ‘You know, he can’t win the big one.’ Well, he’s proved everybody wrong. He can win the big one.

“If you’ve been close enough to him, you knew he was always good enough as a coach to get over that hump. He deserves all the recognition he’s getting.”

According to Simmons, his players have consistently responded to every goal the coaching staff placed in front of them, from winning the Orange Blossom Classic to earning a trip to Atlanta to play for the Black college football national championship. 

“Next goal, obviously, is the Celebration Bowl,” Simmons said. “So then the goal after that is to repeat it and do it all over again. So you’re always chasing something, a legacy, a championship, a dynasty, a standard, status, whatever it is. 

“As long as you keep that mindset, I think people stay hungry, and luckily for us I think this team embraces that.”