Hope Florida A&M isn’t as good as its head coach.

Ever notice how great coaches were usually average players? Bobby Knight and Dean Smith, for example. How about Mack Brown?

Similarly, great players usually don’t make good coaches. Bart Starr comes to mind. So does Bob Cousy. Or Wayne Gretzky or Isaiah Thomas. Even Larry Bird and Magic did not have coaching resumes anywhere close to what they had as athletes.

Florida A&M coach Willie Simmons is as balanced as any athlete and coach you will find. He was an All-American high school player ranked No. 10 in the country, played three seasons at quarterback for Clemson and was the fastest athlete ever to graduate from Death Valley.

His coaching career took the same fast track. Simmonds became a D-1 offensive coordinator by 30 years old and carries a 45-21 record as head man with four schools, 18-5 in his last two seasons at FAMU.

Now, perhaps spurred by Deion “Primetime” Sanders’ promotion of Jackson State, Simmons brings 25 transfers to Kenan Stadium Saturday night, most from Division 1 programs. They want a chance to show off by stunning favorite Carolina on national (ACC Network) TV.

“Most of those players we have never seen play,” Brown said of what could be a tougher task than advertised.

FAMU’s world-class marching band will perform at Tar Heel Town, on the field at pre-game and at halftime as part of the HBCU celebration; the school gets $450,000 from UNC for visiting for an early game on “Week 0” but Simmons doesn’t see dollar signs. He sees what NFL scouts on his campus often this summer have seen.

“We told our guys that this isn’t a ‘money’ game — it’s a ‘get money’ game,” he said. “This gives them a great opportunity to show scouts personally they can quote on quote ‘play with the big boys.’”

Simmons, 41, has two players and two coaches who joined the Rattlers from ACC schools. “And us coaches also want to show our ability to coach against a Power Five opponent,” he said.

“Week 0 is good in the aspect that you’re one of the only games on,” the head coach added. “Many of our guys have played in Kenan Stadium. Hopefully, the stage won’t be too big for them.”

Seemingly, it shouldn’t be for their coach.

 

Featured image via Florida A&M Athletics

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