FAMU hires Simmons as next football coach
Willie Simmons
Outlook staff report
Willie Simmons was introduced as FAMU’s new head football coach Tuesday, just two days after Prairie View A&M announced that he had stepped down after three seasons with the Panthers.
Simmons replaces Alex Wood, who resigned last month after the Rattlers’ final game in the Florida Classic. Wood coached the Rattlers to a 3-8 season.
Simmons, a Tallahassee native who played for Quincy Shanks High School, led the Panthers to a 7-5 season. That gave him a 21-11 record in his three seasons.
FAMU formed a search committee soon after Wood’s departure. The group narrowed a hand-picked list to five and didn’t meet again. Sources close to the selection process said Simmons was the front-runner.
He arrived in Tallahassee over the weekend and came to terms with FAMU.
At age 37, he becomes the youngest coach at FAMU in more than two decades.
Simmons played three seasons at Clemson, where he passed for 2,530 yards and 16 touchdowns in 24 games. Simmons won the starting job after coming off the bench as a freshman. In his first game, he threw for 228 yards and a record-tying four touchdowns to lead the Tigers to a 38-24 win over North Carolina.
Following the game, he was named ACC Rookie of the Week. Simmons played in four postseason bowl games, before he transferred to the Citadel in 2003.
While at Shanks, Simmons threw for over 6,000 yards and 96 touchdowns during his career.
Simmons was the first Panthers head football coach since PVAMU Hall Of Famer Hoover Wright (1966-67) to post winning seasons in his first two years. Simmons led the Prairie View A&M to an 8-2 mark in 2015, followed by a 7-4 mark last season.
