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AFM Magazine

AFM Magazine


\'Do Right...\'

by: Gene Frenette
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As William "Billy" Joe sat in his hotel room in Tallahassee on that January afternoon in 1994, awaiting his job interview with Florida A&M University officials, hardly anybody in Florida's capital city knew who he was or why he was there.

Nearly all of the city's residents were caught up in a parade through the downtown streets for Florida State as the city celebrated the Seminoles' first national title.

Little did the football-crazed fans realize that Joe was formulating his own championship game plan, not just how to convince Florida A&M University to hire him, but how he intended to take Rattler football back to the coaching glory days of FAMU legend Jake Gaither.

"I don't think anyone in Tallahassee knew I was even in town that day," Joe said.

They know exactly who Joe is now and what he's done, which is elevate FAMU's program back up to the status of a national contender. Just like that other Tallahassee-based coach, Bobby Bowden, who lives down the street from Joe at Killearn Country Club.

Bowden may be on the greatest run in college football history with 13 consecutive Top Four finishes and a second national title last year. But a few miles across town, Joe — a quiet and fiercely private man — has awakened the FAMU campus to the realization that there's room in Tallahassee for another No. 1 football program.

"He doesn't just want a good football team this season," said departing FAMU linebacker Grover Fields. "He wants a program to be recognized for years to come."

Entering his seventh season, Joe has taken the Rattlers from a respectable, winning team under predecessor Ken Riley to one with far grander long-range goals. FAMU won the first I-AA national title in 1978 under Rudy Hubbard, but then settled into a pattern of being just an above-average or decent program in the late 1980s and early '90s.

While FSU was always in the national championship hunt, the Rattlers considered it a successful season if they beat arch-rival Bethune-Cookman and won enough games to play in the Heritage Bowl against Grambling or another black-college opponent.

Joe, who won two NAIA national titles at Central State (Ohio), was determined to get the Rattlers out of the ho-hum mindset. He convinced school administrators to move the traditional season-ending game against B-CC a week ahead of schedule so it wouldn't conflict with the start of the I-AA playoffs.

"When I accepted the job, I was given assurances that the effort to do that would be made," Joe said. "They didn't tell me it'd positively be done, but I wanted it done."

It's a good thing FAMU granted Joe his wish because the Rattlers have been invited to the 16-team I-AA playoffs the last four years. Joe's teams have been a lot more than ceremonial post-season participants.

By his third season, Joe had the Rattlers making their first I-AA playoff appearance since 1978. They lost 29-25 at Troy State, and then suffered another road setback in a first-round playoff game to Georgia Southern in 1997.

FAMU's first playoff breakthrough under Joe came two years ago when it beat Troy State 27-17 at home. It was the first I-AA playoff win for a predominantly black school since Tennessee State beat Jackson State in 1986. FAMU then narrowly missed upsetting Western Illinois the following week, falling short 24-21 in Macomb, Ill.

"That season, I think our players knew for sure that this program had the potential to be up there with the Georgia Southerns and Youngstown States," Joe said.

Those elite programs have won a combined nine I-AA national titles.

Last year, thanks to a late-season charge that enabled FAMU to sneak into the playoffs as a No. 13 seed, the Rattlers let it be known that Joe's program wasn't content just to be invited.

All FAMU did was put on maybe the greatest road show in I-AA post-season history. For three consecutive weeks, it took on a Top Five seed in an enemy stadium and came within a couple minutes of reaching the national championship game.

The Rattlers blew out Appalachian State 44-29, used its suffocating defense to hold off Troy State 17-10, setting up a semifinal date with top-seeded Youngstown State. FAMU was leading 24-13 and driving for another score with eight minutes remaining, but the Penguins made a timely end-zone interception that reversed the game's momentum.

A rejuvenated YSU scored touchdowns on its final two possessions to win 27-23, one of the most crushing defeats in Joe's 26 years as a head coach.

"It was disappointing, no question, but I wouldn't say it was the toughest loss," Joe said. "The toughest was my first year (1994) when we lost to Bethune-Cookman. That's something you just don't do at FAMU.

We also lost homecoming that year to Morgan State."

Then in a rare moment of levity, Joe deadpanned: "I like to tell our fans that when they waved at me after those games, I was glad to see they did it with five fingers."

Since then, FAMU has given him plenty of high fives.

Tough as steel

Joe's quiet nature and rugged appearance fits right in with his Pennsylvania roots. That state is long known for producing hard workers and tough football players, both of which have been hallmarks of Joe's life.

"Though he enjoys a good laugh, Billy is a no-nonsense type guy," said Tuskegee head coach Rick Comegy, who coached for seven seasons under Joe at Central State before succeeding him when he left for FAMU.

"You're either going to go by what needs to be done or leave. That is understood by the players and coaches [at FAMU].

"The biggest secret to his success throughout the years is he's been able to locate the individuals who can play under his direction. There are not a whole lot of team rules, just the do-right rule. He's a good teacher. He's going to get things across if he has to rep it and rep it some more. I've always seen him as a fair individual."

In his career, Joe has put together a 205-82-4 record (.711 winning percentage) at three different schools, giving him a lot to draw upon as a coach. He holds an economics degree from Villanova, where he was an All-America fullback, a history degree from Cheyney State (Pa.) College, plus a master's degree in secondary education from Antioch (Ohio) College.

He's enjoyed the privilege of playing on a Super Bowl championship team with the 1968 New York Jets and coaching in the Super Bowl as one of Dick Vermeil's assistants on the 1980 Philadelphia Eagles. This year, he was the recipient of the Johnny Vaught Lifetime Achievement Award from the All-America Football Foundation.

"When I was playing at Millersville State in Lancaster, Pa., I admired him when he coached at Cheyney State because where we were from, I didn't know of any black head coach," Comegy said. "Everywhere I went, I wondered who this guy was and what he was all about."

Essentially, Joe has been about winning and making long-term commitments. He stayed at Cheyney State, then a Division III school, for seven years before going to the Eagles. In 13 years at Central State, where he coached future NFL players Erik Williams, Vince Buck and Hugh Douglas, he led CSU to two NAIA national titles and eight 10-win seasons.

As he approaches his 60th birthday in October, Joe has committed himself to making the Rattlers a consistent national program.

"He's not looking to climb any more mountains," said Joe's younger brother, James, a FAMU assistant coach. "He feels like he's going to retire at this spot. He wants to make his last statement here."

When he first got to Tallahassee, Joe was considered somewhat of a novelty because he preferred to coach games from the press box. With his no-huddle, fastbreak offense, Joe lets his quarterbacks call the plays. Joe says he prefers the view from up top because it allows him to see the field better.

Over time, the story has become less about what Joe does up above than what his players do down below, which usually means putting up big numbers. With their "Gulf Coast" offense, the 1998 Rattlers led Division I-AA in scoring (49.6 points a game), total offense (535.7 yards a game) and passing offense (400.6 yards a game). Last year, using a two-quarterback rotation between Juan Seider and Quinn Gray, FAMU eclipsed the 50-point barrier five times.

"We have a two-minute drill for 60 minutes," Joe said. "When you use that speed drill, the quarterback has to call the plays. We did it in my last year at Central State, but we've refined it quite a bit since coming to FAMU because there's a plethora of outstanding receivers and skill players in Florida. It just lends itself to this offense."

It's not much different from the offensive attack that FSU employed late in Charlie Ward's career. But, unlike cross-town neighbor FSU, the Rattlers are causing scoreboard fireworks at Bragg Stadium without the 'Noles national spotlight and fanfare.

FAMU's high-octane offense usually features four and five-receiver sets, casting Rattler football in a new light with recruits and green-and-orange-bleeding Rattler fans.

"We wanted to get FAMU back to where it was in the late 1970s and before that under Jake Gaither," Joe said. "Our primary goal is to win national championships and we put that thrust on the administration, faculty, boosters and alumni."

That message has also gotten across to recruits, some of Division I-A caliber that have chosen FAMU over schools with larger Saturday crowds and big-time television exposure.

"We don't waste our time and energy if a kid is getting offers from Florida, FSU and Miami," Joe noted. "But if it's an average Division I-A program, we'll stay in the recruiting process and win our share of battles."

Going the distance

Having established FAMU as a post-season threat and gotten within one play of a national title appearance, there's not much else for Joe to do except mirror Bowden's success from last year and win it all.

The Rattlers will have 15 starters returning from last season, but must replace three of their top four receivers - a combined 2,742 yards and 29 touchdowns - and Seider, who had 27 TDs and 4 interceptions last year.

"We've got a good nucleus of players," Joe said. "What we don't have is depth. Our backups just aren't as good. If we experience a rash of injuries, we'll be in serious trouble. If we stay healthy, I think we can make another run.''

One player who must be on the field is two-time All-America receiver Jacquay Nunnally, who had 78 catches for 833 yards last season. The three receivers projected to start alongside him had a combined 10 receptions in 1999. FAMU also hopes to get production from among four receivers in its recent recruiting class, including Marcus Hawkins, a first-team All-State selection from Hamilton County (Fla.) High who said no thanks to Syracuse and South Carolina for FAMU.

"The important thing for the guys coming in to know is that we were just one game away from playing for a national championship last season," Nunnally said. "So the pieces are already there. We just need the new guys to learn as fast as they can and help us do the little things that we weren't able to do last year."

One of the first things Rattler freshmen learn is that Joe, a National Honor Society student at Villanova, means business. Not just about putting forth a total effort on the field and in the classroom, but in players properly managing all their affairs.

Practices at FAMU can be brutal on players who commit even minor infractions, never mind those players who get in trouble with the law.

"If a kid messes up two times in a row, whether it's for missing a class or cursing in practice, he may be doing extra drills after practice for a month," James Joe said. "We discipline our players until they break and fall back in line. The drills aren't going to kill you, but kids hate them. They take up time, make you late for meals, things like that.

"We have the do-right rule. At this age, they know the difference between right and wrong. It's up to them to put themselves in check."

So far, Billy Joe has done a lot of right things at FAMU, including win enough games to surpass Gaither on the all-time victory list (205). But there remains an unsettling feeling in the pit of Joe's stomach since the Youngstown State loss.

"The most painful part of that loss is it's the last game of the season," Joe said. "You have to wait a whole year to vindicate yourself."

For the Rattlers, vindication begins at Delaware State on September 2 and FAMU hopes to not see the end of next season until the I-AA national title game on December 20. Nothing less than being the next Georgia Southern or Youngstown State will satisfy Joe.

He has been in Tallahassee during a national championship celebration.

Next time, Billy Joe wants his team to be the guest of honor.






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