Willie Simmons arrived at Florida A&M in 2017 with one goal in mind.

Return Rattlers football to prominence.

He accomplished that and some, posting a 45-13 record culminating in Southwestern Athletic Conference and HBCU Celebration Bowl championships in 2023.

Now, Simmons is embarking on his next coaching chapter as he aspires to lead a Power 5 football program one day.

Simmons resigned from FAMU last Monday to join Duke of the Atlantic Coast Conference as its running backs coach under new head coach Manny Diaz.

“He’s a great coach, and there’s no telling how far he can go in the profession,” former FAMU head coach Rudy Hubbard (1974-1985) said of Simmons. “He’s got a heck of a grasp on how to build a program and how to work with young men.

“That’s where it begins.”

It’s Simmons’ first time on a Football Bowl Subdivision staff since working as Middle Tennessee State’s offensive coordinator in 2011.

"Super intelligent young man who did a fantastic job at Florida A&M University,” former FAMU head coach Billy Joe (1994-2004) gave props to Simmons.

“He’ll do a great job anywhere, and I will support him. He’s in the right ballpark to reach his ultimate goal.

“Duke’s getting an outstanding coach.”

Willie Simmons arrives as a change agent for FAMU football

Dec. 12, 2017, marked the beginning of the ‘Willenium Era’ at FAMU as he departed his head coaching duties at Prairie View A&M to lead the Rattlers.

Simmons was billed as a turnaround savant, rebuilding Prairie View A&M football to three consecutive winning seasons during his 2015 to 2017 tenure after the program hadn’t output a positive record since 2011.

He did the same at FAMU.

The Quincy native Simmons led the Rattlers to a 6-5 record in 2018, followed by three consecutive nine-win seasons (2019-2022 ― 2020 COVID/canceled), punctuated by a 12-1 mark on the way to winning the SWAC and Celebration Bowl last season. FAMU also hadn’t enjoyed a winning season since 2011.

But his arrival at FAMU wasn’t sparked by his coaching experience.

A 2002 football game between Georgia and Clemson would become the prelude to Simmons landing the Rattlers head coach job.

Former FAMU Director of Athletics Dr. John Eason was the Bulldogs’ assistant head coach while Simmons quarterbacked the Tigers.

Georgia elected to play keep-away late in the game, fearing that Simmons would drive the Clemson offense down the field to claim the victory. The Bulldogs ultimately defeated the Tigers, 31-28.

“I heard a lot about how good a guy and coach [Simmons] was when I was at Georgia,” Eason recalled in an interview with HBCU Gameday’s Vaughn Wilson.

“I never met him before, but I did see him play while I was at Georgia. We made a controversial decision and went for it on 4th and one from our 25-30-yard line because we felt we couldn’t keep Willie Simmons out of the endzone.

“We barely got it, and that was the difference between the game.”

Eason did not utilize a search committee to identify Simmons.

Instead, he took recommendations from Simmons’ fellow James A. Shanks High School graduate and Georgia Bulldogs offensive lineman Alex Jackson and former Middle Tennessee State head coach Rick Stockstill. Stockstill also was an assistant at Clemson when Simmons played for the Tigers.

From that point forward, Eason was in hot pursuit of landing Simmons as FAMU’s 18th full-time head coach.

“Between what we thought of him as a player and what I heard from Alex and Coach Stockstill, I felt [Simmons] had everything FAMU needed,” Eason said.

“He was the best person for the job.”

Delayed but not denied, Willie Simmons finally becomes a FAMU Rattler

Simmons’ arrival to lead the Rattlers was a full-circle moment as he finally donned the Orange and Green after a failed transfer attempt from Clemson to FAMU.

In 2003, Simmons planned to use his final year of college football eligibility to quarterback the Rattlers. However, he was ruled ineligible as the Rattlers were in provisional status to move up to the NCAA Division I-A (now FBS).

Simmons instead landed at The Citadel, earning All-Southern Conference First Team honors in the Bulldogs’ first non-losing season in 10 years.

“He was going to be my quarterback,” Joe remembered Simmons’ short stint as a player for the Rattlers.

“If he was going to play on a level lower than Division I-A, it was going to be Florida A&M University. That lets you know what type of commitment and love he has for FAMU.”

Simmons coming to FAMU was personal, especially after his transfer reversal 14 years prior.

He couldn’t throw touchdowns at Bragg Memorial Stadium in front of his family full of FAMU alums. But head coaching the Rattlers was the next best thing.

So, the then-37-year-old Simmons entered FAMU’s head coach role to fill the void of being a Rattler and ready to flip FAMU football inside out after the program showed an 18-50 overall record from 2012 to 2017.

“It was kind of like a clean house,” said Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Xavier Smith, who joined FAMU football as a walk-on in 2017, a year before Simmons.

“It was just him trusting himself and the talent he saw and brought in.”

Willie Simmons modern coaching approach leads to FAMU's success

Simmons’, 43, youthfulness has allowed him to stay up-to-date on college football trends.

And it’s led to success.

In 2018, the NCAA implemented the Transfer Portal, which manages and facilitates student-athletes transferring between its member schools.

FAMU’s 2023 SWAC and Celebration Bowl championship team featured many transfers looking for opportunities to compete on the Division I level.

Quarterback Jeremy Moussa and linebacker Isaiah Major were named the SWAC’s Offensive and Defensive Player of the Year last season. Both are transfer players who joined the Rattlers in 2022.

“I was reluctant to transfer. But I had to because I wanted the opportunity to play,” said Moussa, who had previous stops at Hawaii, Vanderbilt, and junior college.

“I’m so thankful to Coach Simmons for giving me that opportunity and believing in me because I only had one season of JUCO film.

“I wouldn’t change that decision for the world.”

Simmons’ greatest transfer pickup may be current Dallas Cowboys linebacker Markquese Bell.

Bell came to FAMU in 2019 after stints at Maryland and Coffeyville Community College and ascended as an All-American before leaving for the NFL in 2022.

Landing Bell was integral to the Rattlers earning an at-large bid to the 2021 Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs, the program’s first postseason appearance since 2001.

The Rattlers had been regulars in the playoffs during the Coach Billy Joe era, representing the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference from 1996-2001.

“Coach Simmons called and asked how to prepare for the NCAA playoff game,” Joe said. “They lost that game, but I was hopeful that Willie would stay there because I thought he had the opportunity, talent, ability, and players to be the first SWAC head coach to win an NCAA playoff game.”

A challenging tenure ends in triumph for FAMU and Willie Simmons

The 2018 season saw an end-of-season meltdown cost the Rattlers the opportunity to represent the MEAC in the Celebration Bowl.

2019 saw FAMU finish with a MEAC-best 9-2 (7-1) record while on a self-imposed postseason ban that prevented them from claiming the league’s Celebration Bowl berth.

The COVID-19 pandemic canceled the 2020 season.

FAMU went 9-3 in 2021, the season where it joined the SWAC and adopted the mantra “Why Not Us” but finished second in the SWAC East, causing them to enter the FCS Playoffs before a first-round exit in a 38-14 loss at Southeastern Louisiana.

NCAA compliance issues, which included being shorthanded 26 players in the season opener at North Carolina, derailed the early portion of the Rattlers’ 2022 season. But FAMU still finished 9-2 before being left out of the 24-team FCS playoff bracket.

There was something different in the air in 2023, though.

FAMU entered the season walking with a little more swagger and deemed the season as “Our Time.”

Indeed it was the Ratters' time.

FAMU nearly ran the table for a 12-1 record while collecting the SWAC and Black College Football Championship trophies. The Rattlers' only loss came against FBS opponent South Florida Bulls in a winnable 38-25 loss in Tampa.

FAMU ended the season defeating MEAC champs Howard 30-26 at the Celebration Bowl, the de facto Black College Football National Championship in Atlanta on Dec. 16.

“[Simmons] made it happen and brought it from the ground up,” Smith proudly said after watching his alma mater win the Celebration Bowl. “It’s a blessing that he got a chance to win everything he ever desired and got it done.

“Coach Simmons understood the history and went about his business as such. As long as those guys understand the history, FAMU will keep winning until the end of time."

The Celebration Bowl saw the FAMU Rattlers and Howard Bison go to the final minutes to claim the trophy.

But what Hubbard saw in the hotly-contested bowl game was the calming nature of Simmons, who he described as a “Cool Hand Luke” as he watched the FAMU-Howard game from his Tallahassee home.

Little did the College Football Hall of Famer Hubbard know that Simmons was repeating history done 45 years prior.

Hubbard coached the Rattlers to the inaugural Division I-AA championship, closely beating the Massachusetts Minutemen 35-28 on Dec. 16, 1978. Coincidentally, Simmons followed by narrowly escaping the Celebration Bowl victorious on Dec. 16, 2023.

“What a great day,” Hubbard said of Dec. 16's significance to FAMU football. “They call [Simmons] ‘Shotgun,’ but I saw a ‘Cool Hand Luke.’ Every time Howard would do something, he answered with style and grace.

“That was a classic game.”

Former FAMU coach Willie Simmons strategically moving up the ladder

Simmons is off to Durham, North Carolina, for his next challenge at Duke.

And his nearly two decades of coaching experience and recruiting prowess can guide Duke’s backfield to be one of the most dynamic in the nation.

Simmons earned his chops in the college coaching profession by overseeing Middle Tennessee State’s running backs from 2007-2009 before getting promoted to offensive coordinator.

“If Coach Simmons’ ambition is to coach on the major college level, it’s an unbelievably great move,” Joe said.

“He’s a very seasoned coach, a great football mind, and works hard. He knows the game and will get out there to recruit some unbelievably great athletes for Duke.”

There have been few HBCU head coaches to jump directly to the FBS, specifically Power 5.

Willie Jeffries became the first Black coach to lead a Division I-A program when he left South Carolina State for Wichita State in 1979. In 2022, Deion Sanders, who coached Jackson State, elevated from the SWAC to the Power 5 level, Pac-12’s Colorado.

Simmons joining Duke’s staff to coach the running backs may expedite the process of achieving his ultimate goal of head coaching a Power 5 football team.

“There’s no better time to go than to go when you’re on top,” Hubbard said of Simmons leaving FAMU for Duke two weeks after winning the Celebration Bowl.

“He’s checking all the boxes and ensuring he’s got all the credentials to get one of the Power 5 jobs. The timing is right, and I’m proud of how he handled his coaching career at FAMU and how he’s moving forward.”

A new chapter of FAMU football is on the horizon after Willie Simmons' departure

It’s time for FAMU to find a new head football coach.

In the meantime, Simmons’ former assistant head coach, James Colzie III, holds FAMU’s interim tag while administration searches to fill the permanent role.

Jake Gaither. Rudy Hubbard. Billy Joe. Willie Simmons.

Those are FAMU’s national championship-winning coaches whose shoes the new coach must fill.

“FAMU will get someone that will be just as good as Coach Simmons and maybe even better,” Joe said of the Rattlers’ new coach search. “It may not be the first, second, or third hire, but they’ll eventually get a top coach, and great football will return to FAMU.

“They have to bring in a coach with a proven record or potential to recapture the glory of FAMU football."

There’s no indication which direction FAMU’s coaching search will head. But the Rattlers are riding high fresh off a Black College Football National Championship.

That may be a reason to hire someone familiar with the Rattler Way as the program looks to bring more hardware to Galimore-Powell Fieldhouse’s trophy case.

“I think there’s some good guys out there,” Hubbard said.

“I’d like to see somebody already on that staff. Billy Rolle played for me, and I know he’s a good man and coach. If the program were in shambles, you go outside to get someone to fix it. But when you’re rolling like we are, the guys there have the formula to dominate.

“We’re in good shape. It’s a matter of making the right selection.”

Willie 'Shotgun' Simmons accomplishments as Florida A&M Rattlers head football coach (2018-2023)

• HBCU Celebration Bowl Champion (2023)

• Southwestern Athletic Conference Champion (2023)

• SWAC Coach of the Year (2023)

• Honorary Lifetime Membership to Tallahassee Quarterback Club (2023)

• 2x American Football Coaches Association Football Championship Subdivision Region 3 Coach of the Year (2022, 2023)

• FCS Playoffs Appearance (2021)

• Tallahassee Democrat's Person of the Year (2019)

Gerald Thomas, III covers Florida A&M University Athletics for the Tallahassee Democrat. Contact him via email at gdthomas@tallahassee.com or on the app formerly known as Twitter @3peatgee.

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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: FAMU Football: How former Coach Simmons returned Rattlers to prominence