Taylor leaves Hampton for Florida A&M
Roscoe Nance
BCSP Correspondent
'A man isn't worth his salt if he isn't up to a challenge.' That's the gospel according to Joe Taylor.
Taylor, 57, says that's what motivated him
to forsake Hampton University last week after
16 years as the Pirates' football coach to take on
the job of rebuilding the once-proud Florida
A&M program.
"The idea of this particular challenge was intriguing,'' said Taylor, the dean of MEAC coaches, alluding to the task of turning around a program which has another year of NCAA probation resulting from violations during Billy Joe's tenure as coach and is limited to 60 scholarships - three fewer than the maximum for FCS programs.
Needless to say, the five-year, $225,000 contract, plus $12,000 annual housing allowance, the Rattlers offered added to the intrigue.
"It's about trying to put your family in a better situation,'' says Taylor, whose salary at Hampton was in the $150,000- to $170,000-a-year range.
Taylor guided Hampton to five MEAC championships and three CIAA crowns while compiling a 136-49 overall record. His 197-78-4 career mark places him third among active FCS coaches in total victories, and his .713 winning percentage is fifth best.
Jerry Holmes, the Pirates' defensive coordinator the past three years, was named Taylor's successor.
Hampton athletic director Lonza Hardy Jr. says Taylor will be missed, but his departure isn't a step backwards for the Pirates' program.
"If we didn't have a qualified person as his replacement, I would say it's a step backwards,'' Hardy says. "The business of Hampton football goes on. Coach Holmes was trained well by Coach Taylor.''
Taylor takes over a program that has fallen on hard times in recent years. The Rattlers are 19-25 over the last four seasons and were eighth in the nine-team MEAC this season with a 2-6 conference record. They were 3-8 overall this year under third-year head coach Rubin Carter, who posted a 16-17 mark during his tenure.
Taylor also interviewed for the job at Western Carolina, 1-10 and last in the Southern Conference this season, and was offered the position. When Taylor resigned at Hampton, speculation was that he had accepted the Catamounts offer since it wasn't widely known that he was on Florida A&M's short list of candidates, which included Rod Broadway of Grambling and University of Georgia associate head coach John Eason.
(Newport News, Va.) Daily Press columnist Dave Fairbank wrote that Taylor "had all but accepted" the Western Carolina job when he changed his mind and sought to return to Hampton. There was speculation also that Taylor tried to leverage the Western Carolina offer for improved contracts for his assistants at Hampton.
"There was no bartering,'' Taylor says, adding that his decision to go to Florida A&M came down to the sales job the Rattlers did on him and a matter of choosing between FAMU and Western Carolina.
"They were quite convincing when it came to what they have in place and what they hope to get done,'' he says. "The resources are more and the chances to win are better at FAMU. Western Carolina has put more resources into the program, but there are still some things to do.''
The job of convincing Taylor to come to Florida A&M fell to Bill Hayes, the Rattlers' newly installed athletic director. Hayes and Taylor have a relationship that goes back to when both were coaching in the CIAA, Taylor at Virginia Union and Hayes at Winston-Salem State. They also went against each other in the MEAC after Taylor moved on to Hampton and Hayes took over at North Carolina A&T.
Broadway was the frontrunner based on his relationship with Hayes and Florida A&M president James Ammons. Broadway was head coach at North Carolina Central when Ammons was president and Hayes was athletic director. However, Broadway and Florida A&M weren't able to agree on contract terms, and Broadway opted to remain at Grambling. Eason, a Rattler All-American in the late 1960s, was a popular choice among FAMU alumni but he wasn't interested in returning to his alma mater.
"I thought he was the best,'' Hayes says of Taylor. "I thought he brought the most to the table.''
Taylor's $225,000 annual salary makes him the highest paid coach in black college football. The Rattlers will pay Carter through April and his assistant through February. That raises the question how will Florida A&M be able to pay Taylor and his staff.
Hayes insists that Ammons is committed to the program, and that Ammons "not only wants to win, he wants to provide infrastructure to win.''
"Everybody is going to be better off than they were,'' Hayes says. Taylor plans to name his staff later this week when he returns from the American Football Coaches Association Convention in Anaheim, Calif. Offensive line coach Lawrence Hershaw and running backs coach Aaron Taylor, Joe Taylor's son, are expected to accompany him from Hampton.
Taylor's move to Florida A&M took observers of black college football by surprise, among them ESPNU play-byplay announcer Charlie Neal.
"When I first heard he was offered another job, the only job I knew about from an HBCU perspective was FAMU,'' Neal says. "I didn't see him making that move laterally. I could see a move to Western Carolina. What else could he do at Hampton? He's done everything he needed to do except win a postseason game. He has won enough MEAC championships. But I can see where would be challenged at FAMU. FAMU is not a bad place to be. The down side is they still have some probation and are short some scholarships. Knowing the president, he wants a winner. He's proved it by giving him five-year contract and housing allowance. I was somewhat shocked.''
Hayes and Taylor say they have bigger fish than an MEAC championship to fry.
"I've been around too long to do average things,'' Hayes says. "I ain't got time for that. Everything we do from here on out is with that in mind.''
Florida A&M won the inaugural I-AA championship in 1978 and reached the semifinals in 1999.
"Every day I get up I will be working toward returning (FAMU) to prominence,'' Taylor says. "The potential is great to see some immediate improvement. You've always got a chance when you're in that Florida area. I feel like we have one more resurrection in us.''
© 2008 Azeez Communications, Inc.