McCullum is FAMU’s choice for basketball job

Robert McCullum

By St. Clair Murraine
Outlook staff writer

FAMU will hire a men’s basketball head coach who has proven that he can improve two areas where the Rattlers have fallen short for more than 10 years.
Robert McCullum’s name was sent to Interim President Larry Robinson on Monday for the final approval to make him head coach of the Rattlers, sources close to the hiring process told the Outlook

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FAMU has been searching for a coach since Athletic Director Milton Overton fired Byron Samuels in March, ending his three years at the school.
Former FSU coach Pat Kennedy was one of the top three candidates.

 
McCullum has the credentials that indicate  that he could turn around the program, which has not had many double-digit winning seasons in recent years. FAMU also has had a difficult time retaining its basketball players, resulting in a ban from postseason play, which was recently lifted by the NCAA.
McCullum has been  the assistant director of operations at Oregon for the past three seasons. His resume includes coaching two international teams, including the Nigerian national team.

 
He’s held two head coach positions during his 30 years in basketball. McCullum turned around Western Michigan’s program during  the three seasons that he was head coach of the Broncos, winning 20 games in 2003 that led to an appearance in the NIT.

 
His other head coaching job was at South Florida, where he was a key figure in the Bulls’ move from Conference USA to the Big East during the three seasons that he was in Tampa.

 
Overton has long been concerned about the academic success of the FAMU men’s basketball program and McCullum seemed to be the man for the job.
In his two head coaching stints, McCullum’s teams improved dramatically in their academic performance. He graduated 18 of 23 of his recruits combined at both USF and Western Michigan.