Recent win, looming homecoming football game testimonial to FAMU's Willie Simmons' path | G. Thomas

Willie Simmons has endured a great deal of full-circle moments lately.

Last Saturday, he returned to where he once resided, Houston, Texas, where the Florida A&M Rattlers head football coach guided his team to a 31-21 win, its fifth straight victory, over Texas Southern in a Week 8 Southwestern Athletic Conference game.

Now, Simmons is about to lead FAMU football (6-1, 5-0 SWAC), ranked No. 14 in the Football Championship Subdivision Coaches Poll, in Saturday’s Week 9 homecoming game against the team he jumped on the scene as a head coach from 2015 to 2017 — Prairie View A&M.

PVAMU is 3-4 (3-1 SWAC) on the bottom of a three-way SWAC West tie (with Southern and Alcorn State). The Panthers were on a Week 8 bye.

Kickoff is at 4 p.m. at Ken Riley Field at Bragg Memorial Stadium. The game will be live on ESPNU.

But here’s the kicker of where Simmons has been and where he’s headed.

Last Saturday was his 60th win as a head coach (to only 24 losses) as the Rattlers prevailed over Texas Southern at Houston’s Shell Energy Stadium. That is the same place Simmons scored his first victory in his head coaching debut at PVAMU, beating Texas Southern 38-11, known as BBVA Compass Stadium in 2015.

Simmons, 43, has never had a losing season as a head coach. Additionally, he’s unequivocally restored two college football programs.

Before Simmons’ 2015 arrival, PVAMU hadn’t finished with a winning record since 2010. And FAMU became the punching bag of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, having six straight losing seasons before Simmons took over in 2018.

Sixty wins later, Simmons’ head coaching tenures have shown his attention to detail and commitment to entering challenging situations with the goal of a better result.

“Man, that question was kind of nostalgic,” Simmons said after I notified him of his 60th win and asked him to reflect on his coaching journey at PVAMU and FAMU.

“It’s full circle that I just got my 60th win, which I didn’t know. It all started at Prairie View. My first win was actually in that same stadium,” Simmons reflected. “A lot of great memories during my time there, and I met a lot of people.

“But, I don’t think about the wins. I try to keep my head down, but I’m fortunate to go 1-0 60 times.”

Simmons and FAMU offensive coordinator, offensive line coach Joseph Henry both worked at PVAMU. Henry was Simmons’ tight ends and special teams coach while juggling video coordinator duties.

Current PVAMU head coach Bubba McDowell was Simmons’ defensive backs coach and rose through the ranks to finally earn the keys to lead the Panthers in 2022. PVAMU’s defensive pass game coordinator Dan Lemke held the same title at FAMU from 2019 to 2021.

There are plenty of connections to FAMU-PVAMU’s homecoming game.

But, Simmons has been a competitor all his life ― as an All-American at Quincy’s Shanks High School, an NCAA Division I quarterback at Clemson and The Citadel, and now as a head football coach.

The hardest-fought battles in sports are against your peers that you came up with.

“The most fierce fights that I think I’ve ever had were against my closest friends,” Simmons said about seeing familiar faces this Saturday.

“You definitely look forward to a great battle, and I know [PVAMU] will be fired up and ready to play. It’s going to be a great challenge and honor.”

FAMU coach Willie Simmons a success, but still has more to accomplish

Simmons is taking it a game at a time and focusing on what FAMU can control.

But that doesn’t negate that Simmons and the Rattlers can lock up the SWAC East with a win over PVAMU and an Alabama A&M loss to Alabama State at Saturday’s Magic City Classic. A Saturday win for FAMU and AAMU leads to a winner-take-all game when the teams meet in Week 10.

Luckily for the Rattlers, they still control their own destiny as the top team in the SWAC standings. So, that scenario can earn Simmons his first division title as a head coach, which has eluded him, and will clinch the Rattlers’ SWAC Championship appearance on Dec. 2.

“I try not to think about any of that stuff. But once it happens, I’m sure I’ll have a rush of emotions because it’s a goal of mine and this football team,” Simmons said of the division title possibility.

“I am aware that winning a divisional title is one thing that has eluded me as a head coach because we couldn’t claim it in 2019 (FAMU had the best record in the MEAC but was on a self-imposed postseason ban). But you lose sight of the bigger picture if you focus on that stuff.

“But this has never been about me or my accolades. It’s about my ability, with the help of my assistant coaches and support staff, to develop 120 young men. When I hang the whistle up, I’ll look back over my career and enjoy the accomplish along the way."

It’ll be a festive week at FAMU as homecoming has officially begun.

But Simmons and the Rattlers are zeroed in on taking care of business against PVAMU to celebrate homecoming correctly.

FAMU football’s homecoming activities are contingent on Saturday’s game result. Simmons says he’s turning up as long as the Rattlers win Saturday.

“Many of our guys have experienced a FAMU homecoming,” Simmons said. “But I told the ones who haven’t, whatever they think they heard or know, throw it out the window. You’ll see something you’ve never seen before this entire week.

“The temptations are going to be on 1,000. What are we willing to give up for the price of greatness? If we’re undisciplined, we’ll get what we deserve. And that means getting in a dogfight or getting upset. But, if we focus, we’ll get what we deserve to be the closing to a phenomenal week of homecoming.

“If we take care of business, we’re going to blow it out Saturday night, and the [players] get to do the same thing.”

Florida A&M (6-1, 5-0 SWAC) vs. Prairie View A&M (3-4, 3-1 SWAC) Homecoming Game Information

When: Saturday, Oct. 28 at 4 p.m. Eastern Time

Where: Ken Riley Field at Bragg Memorial Stadium in Tallahassee, Florida

How to watch: ESPNU, Rattlers+

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

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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: FAMU Football: Rattlers coach values path, facing old team | Opinion