Former FAMU bowling players detail discontent that led to in-season departures from team
Florida A&M’s bowling team has made a midseason roster revamp.
On Wednesday, former Rattlers bowler Shamoria Johnson posted an Instagram reel detailing her and teammates departing the team midway through the season on Dec. 1 due to differences with first-year head coach Capri Howard.
The Instagram post has attracted over 60,000 viewers.
The departures were two weeks after FAMU participated at Alabama State’s Hornet Invitational from Nov. 17 to Nov. 19, where Johnson garnered Southwestern Athletic Conference Bowler of the Week honors for her performance.
After the tournament, FAMU students went on Thanksgiving break. Typically, the Rattlers do not practice after Thanksgiving break, given that all bowling matches are paused until January.
However, Howard, who got hired as FAMU’s head bowling coach on Aug. 11 to replace the retired Karen Brown, scheduled a team practice following the holiday break for Monday, Dec. 4. Howard’s decision to practice received pushback from Johnson and teammates as they preferred to focus on upcoming final exams and assignments.
“In previous years, we wouldn’t have practice after Thanksgiving break because our coach was high on academics and wouldn’t let us practice on a dead week or finals week,” Johnson reflected in a virtual meeting with the Tallahassee Democrat.
“But obviously, we have a new coach, so it takes some managing with us and our schedules. So a few of us called out, saying we have group projects and finals.”
Johnson texted Howard on Nov. 29, telling the coach that she had to write two final essays for classes and couldn’t attend the Dec. 4 practice. Johnson said Howard did not respond to the text message.
Hours later, Howard emailed the entire team, reminding them that practices are mandatory and advising them to properly manage their time between school and bowling. Johnson, a Bright Futures Scholar, responded on her team’s behalf, detailing the emphasis on academics and under FAMU’s women’s bowling team’s eighth rule of prioritizing school.
Johnson was removed from the team towards the end of a Dec. 1 practice, alleging Howard described her behavior as “disrespectful” and an energy that’s “a cancer to the team."
“I’ve been trying hard to be here and do well,” Johnson said. “I walked out and told my teammates I wasn’t their teammate anymore.”
Anna and Francesca Olay, alongside Emilea Sturk, left the team and departed practice in response to Johnson’s dismissal.
All have remaining eligibility years and were allowed to retain their scholarships through the ongoing spring semester.
“I thought [Johnson's] response to the email was completely validated because she was speaking on our behalf,” Anna Olay remembered.
“So, when she said she wasn’t our teammate anymore, I immediately was like, ‘Ok, I’m packing up my stuff.' We have continued to advocate for ourselves, and all [Howard] has done is shut us down and try to get us in trouble.”
Rattlers bowling now features six players and only two holdovers from a season ago; Spring Harris and Eva Holmes. The team is currently competing in the SWAC West Roundup in San Antonio.
"In December 2023, Coach Howard dismissed a student-athlete from the bowling team for reasons supported by NCAA bylaws," FAMU Vice President, Director of Athletics Tiffani-Dawn Sykes said in a released statement.
"Though it's always challenging to see our student-athletes dismissed, I support the decision by Coach Howard as the proper procedures were taken before the dismissal.
"All of the former members of the bowling team have been awarded their athletics aid for the remainder of the academic year."
FAMU players' first meeting with new coach delayed before given unfavorable news
Howard’s arrival created a new age of bowling, replacing Brown, who’d been at FAMU since 2012.
Rattlers players claimed they attempted to schedule a meeting and their usual preseason gathering that would’ve welcomed Howard to the Highest of Seven Hills.
“We were excited,” Johnson said. “We tried to schedule a meeting with her to see what she’s thinking and show her our intentions as a team to meet and get to know each other.
“It never happened.”
The team didn’t have its first official meeting with Howard until Sept. 27; they said it was over a month after the new coach’s hire. Present for the meeting was FAMU VP/AD Sykes and Senior Associate Athletic Director for External Relations Breon Hagans.
Francesca Olay said they felt unsupported by the newly-hired coach Howard upon their first meeting, stating Johnson didn't respect their opinions on team strengths and weaknesses.
“She needed to know our weaknesses so we could work on them before the first tournament, and she didn’t care to listen,” Francesca Olay said.
Howard also notified the Rattlers that they would hold tryouts to add walk-on players ahead of the season.
Anna Olay said the team was slighted and belittled by the decision because they felt Howard didn’t thoroughly evaluate the team.
“It felt like an attack because it was like, 'Do you not feel like we’re good enough?’” Anna Olay said.
“I was uncomfortable with her bringing on walk-ons, and she turned to me and said, ‘I appreciate your opinion, but your opinion doesn’t matter. I’m the head coach.’
"From that point on, the connection was shot."
Tensions began to rise between FAMU bowlers and new coach
The team’s relationship with Howard started rocky at the season’s October inception.
That would lead to some player-coach tension in practices and matches.
The former FAMU bowlers said that Howard implemented a rule that the team could not sit down during matches between sets. The new team guideline sparked an incident between Francesca Olay and Howard as Olay tried to rest her sore knee at Jackson State’s Sonic Boom Invitational.
Howard asked if Francesca Olay needed to see the trainer, and Francesca Olay said no. In response, Howard told Francesca Olay to stand up, which she refused.
Francesca Olay says sitting down helps the FAMU bowling team reset for the next match.
“That was a pretty interesting experience,” she said. “It just showed that she didn’t care about how we felt.
“At that point, I lost all my respect for her.”
At last, FAMU bowling players felt like their relationship began to turn a corner at November’s Alabama State Hornet Invitational.
Little did they know, it would be the final bowling match with the Rattlers for some despite an entire spring season to spare.
“It was a tough transition. The whole semester semester was bumpy," Johnson said.
"But at Alabama State, it felt like something clicked. After the break, I don’t know what happened.”
Former FAMU bowlers searches for support from the athletic department
FAMU bowling players attempted to contact the administration, including VP/AD Sykes, Hagans, Howard, and the compliance department.
Their parents also reached out.
The efforts were to no avail, the players say.
"Our response was that we’re trying to tell our head coach what to do,” Johnson said. “We weren’t trying to tell her what to do. We were trying to tell her how we feel.”
The Rattlers attained a sports psychologist to assist the team with mental health.
They feel FAMU administration lacked “empathy” and “sympathy” towards their feelings.
"A lot of days crying profusely,” Francesca Olay reflected.
"Everyone was mentally shot. We emphasized the importance of taking a break and having a day off. There was not a care in the world.”
Bowling tournaments are approximately eight hours daily, with three minutes of transition between matches.
Usually, the participating teams supply their own food.
The former FAMU bowlers said alums provided them deli sandwiches for Jackson State’s Sonic Boom Invitational, but the food got left on the bus by Howard, players say.
“Coach didn’t really supply any snacks,” Johnson said. “But she told us we weren’t allowed to get our own snacks.”
Departed FAMU bowlers discuss what's next for them
Johnson hopes to bowl again someday, whether it’s at FAMU or not.
She graduates from FAMU with an English degree in December and will decide between the workforce or graduate school. She can use her final year of eligibility to bowl if she continues her education.
“I don’t think it would be plausible for me to come back to FAMU Athletics, seeing how I was consistently ignored by the department and had to make an Instagram video for some attention towards this situation,” Johnson said.
“We came to FAMU because the coach that scouted us said this is an environment where we will be loved, taken care of, and get our education. Instead, halfway through our eligibility, we were given somebody that values the opposite.”
The Olay sisters are both no longer enrolled at FAMU.
Instead, they plan to pursue their degree through an online program and work full-time at their family's business in Orlando.
Additionally, they said they're done with bowling with two eligibility years to spare apiece after stints at Delaware State and FAMU.
“Anna and I have a lot going on at home," Francesca Olay said. "We’re not able to bowl collegiately because we don’t have the funds nor the time to go out to another school and bowl for them.”
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 Bowling: Former Rattlers bowlers talk about midseason departure
