Sports
Former FAMU football coaches get jobs at the NFL and Power 4 levels
![Former FAMU football coaches get jobs at the NFL and Power 4 levels](https://www.tallahassee.com/gcdn/authoring/authoring-images/2024/06/26/PTAL/74216293007-original-e-8143-b-6-b-51254-a-8-da-7-f-505-d-5436-c-9-ddf.jpeg?width=660&height=439&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp)
Florida A&M has captured the attention of the football world over the past five years.
Since 2018, the Rattlers have become a fixture in the Football Championship Subdivision and HBCU.
Most recently, this past December, FAMU won its first Southwestern Athletic Conference and Celebration Bowl en route to claiming the program's 17th Black College Football National Championship. The Rattlers finished 2023 ranked 10th in the FCS Coaches Poll.
The success has provided opportunities for players through the NCAA Transfer Portal and helped coaches in their quest to advance in the profession.
In January, former FAMU head coach Willie Simmons left after five years to become running backs coach for the Duke Blue Devils of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Simmons posted a 45-13 mark while leading the Rattlers and won two Black College national titles in 2019 and 2023. Immediately before FAMU, Simmons was head coach at Prairie View A&M, which gave him nine seasons of head coaching experience.
Now an assistant at Duke under head coach Manny DiazIn addition to coaching the running backs, Simmons also helps the special teams and recruits players at the national level.
Simmons hopes to translate those skills to one day become a Power Four head coach.
Those nine years prepared me for the next step. As a head coach, you look at things from a different perspective, and it gives me a better appreciation for what our head coach deals with on a daily basis, said Simmons, who also worked as a position coach and coordinator at the FCS and Group Five level.
Just getting used to the life of coaching a position instead of overseeing the entire program. So I remind myself that my job is to support [Diaz] to make sure his plan works and to encourage my colleagues to do the same.
It was great that I was able to use my experience as a head coach and help build a championship program.
FAMU football has also been a springboard for his former assistant coaches.
Former Rattlers special teams coordinator Chili Davis spent the 2022 season at The Highest of Seven Hills, building one of the best units in the country led by All-American punter Chris Faddoul.
After leaving FAMU for a one-season stint with Big 12 Conference's Kansas State, Davis is now an assistant special teams coach for the Los Angeles Rams. Davis landing the Rams job reunites him with former FAMU standout wide receiver Xavier Smith, who is entering his second NFL season.
So far, Davis has worked with the Rams during their organized team activities in the summer. Davis says the Rams coaches have a tradition of working as a staff to get their thoughts in order before diving into the day-to-day workflow, such as draft preparation, player onboarding and meetings.
Davis absorbs all the information he learns at the highest level of football.
I heard great things about the Rams organization before I got here. Being there and getting it firsthand confirmed everything I thought, Davis said.
It's great to have people around me who can teach me different ways to be a professional coach and help me grow some great players.
Former FAMU recruiter Devin Rispress is living the dream on Deion Sanders' Colorado staff
Behind the scenes of FAMU's success was the program's former recruiting director, Devin Rispress.
Rispress, a Tallahassee native and former Rickards Redskins football star, joined the Rattlers staff in 2022 as a veteran local assistant high school football coach.
His connections with the high school in Rispress Florida gave him an eye for identifying prep talent and transfer portals. For example, Rispress recruited FAMU transfers from last season, rising senior running back Kelvin Dean Jr. and former Rattlers receiver Marcus Rileytwo players he coached at Rickards.
Dean won the 2023 Celebration Bowls Offensive Most Valuable Player. Riley was an All-SWAC selection and is now a member of the New York Jets 90-man roster.
Rispress left FAMU in January and joined Deion Sanders as the Buffaloes' assistant director of player personnel and high school relations.
Rispress and his young son, Devin 'Worldwide Jr., are far from Leon County. But the goal remains the same for Rispress in Boulder recruiting.
I watched Colorado from a distance and was a fan, Rispress said.
At FAMU, I prepared myself for this role. I just took everything I learned from Willie Simmons and the FAMU coaches and put it in my toolbox and brought it here. And it made it a pretty easy transition for me to come into this role.
“It's a little bit different because I'm not the CEO. But I do the same thing. Recruiting is what I do, and that's what I do here.
For Rispress, working with Sanders and providing the Buffaloes' second-year coach with a talented roster for the program's first season in the Big 12 is a dream come true.
Rispress was born and raised in Tallahassee and grew up with his roots Rush hour as head coach of the Colorados, he played cornerback for the Florida State Seminoles before entering the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
It’s great to work with Deion Sanders, a guy who was one of my favorite athletes, and now I can help him compete for a Big 12 Championship and become the first African-American coach to win a national championship, Rispress said.
I love that he is big on developing young men as people and football players, he also invests in his staff and helps us with professional development so we can progress in the coaching world to achieve our ultimate goals.
If you read or hear negative things about Coach Prime, believe me: it's untrue.
Former FAMU head coach, current Duke assistant Willie Simmons' coaching tree is deep
Although the time at FAMU was relatively short, the impact the school and its football program had on Davis and Rispress is indelible.
Just the tradition that the school and the program has is so rich. When you play or coach at FAMU, you feel obligated to keep that standard high or raise the bar, Davis said.
Every part of my journey has prepared me for this moment. You can make your dreams come true at FAMU.
Rispress, who played college football for FAMU's rival, the Bethune-Cookman Wildcats, said he will be forever grateful to Tallahassee and the Rattlers. They have given him a chance to prove he is a recruiting mastermind at the Division I level.
Being a Tallahassee native, Rattler Nation and the city has been very supportive. I am forever grateful for FAMU. Even though I am a wildcat, FAMU holds a special place in my heart, Rispress said.
So I have to pay tribute.
Davis and Rispress are just two assistants who have worked under Simmons and moved up. Simmons FAMU assistants KJ Black (Atlanta Falcons), Colin Diaz (Duke) Kenneth Gilstrap II (UAB), Alex Jackson (Mississippi State), Mateo Kambui (Pittsburgh Steelers) Chris Klenakis (Vanderbilt), Brandon Sharp (Louisville), Ralph Street (Marshall), Ryan Stanchek (UTEP), and Shane Tucker (Austin Peay), to name a few, are also enjoying the fruits of their labor.
Even Simmons FAMU assistant head coach, James Colzie III, followed him in leading the Rattlers. FAMU assistant head coach and offensive coordinator Joseph Henry worked on Simmons Prairie View A&M and FAMU staffs and left the Rattlers briefly to become assistant coaches at Mizzou, Arkansas and LSU.
Former head Rattler Simmons takes pride in watching his boys climb the coaching ladder.
One of my goals as a head coach was to prepare my assistants for bigger and better things, Simmons said.
They all have goals and aspirations, and I wanted to do my best to help them achieve them. I have been fortunate to have some good coaches who have done great things. That speaks to the quality of the program we ran, which was directly related to the quality of the coaches we had.
All these guys are doing great things in their new ventures, I'm just so happy to see that.
Florida A&M Rattlers 2024 Football Schedule
- August 24 vs. Norfolk State in MEAC/SWAC Challenge, Atlanta* at 7:30 p.m., ABC
- Aug. 31 vs. South Carolina State, 6 p.m., ESPN+
- September 7 in Miami, 6:00 p.m., ACC Network
- September 21 in Troy, 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time, ESPN+
- September 28 vs. Alabama A&M, 6 p.m., ESPN+
- Oct. 5 at Alabama State, 3 p.m. Eastern Time, ESPN+
- Oct 19 at Jackson State, 3:30 PM Eastern Time, ESPN Network
- Oct. 26 vs. Southern, 7 p.m., ESPN Network
- November 2 vs. Texas Southern (HOMECOMING), 4 p.m., ESPN+
- Nov. 9 at Prairie View A&M, 3 p.m. Eastern Time, ESPN+
- Nov 16 vs. Mississippi Valley State, 1 p.m
- Nov 23 vs. Bethune-Cookman, Orlando*, 3:30 p.m., ESPN Network
- November 30: FCS Playoffs Begin
- December 7: SWAC Championship, LOCATION/TEAMS NV, ESPN2
- Dec. 14: Celebration Bowl, Atlanta*, TEAMS TBA, 12 p.m., ABC
VET = SWAC
* = Neutral location
Gerald Thomas, III writes about Florida A&M University Athletics for the Tallahassee Democrat. Contact him by email at[email protected]or on the app formerly known as Twitter@3peatgee.
No one covers the Rattlers like the Tallahassee Democrat. Subscribe via the link at the top of the page and never miss a moment.
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