List of Florida A&M Rattlers head football coaches

The Florida A&M Rattlers college football team represents Florida A&M University in the East Division of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC), as part of the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision. The program has had 19 head coaches, and 1 interim head coach, since it began play during the 1907 season. Since December 2025, Quinn Gray has served as Florida A&M's head coach.

Six coaches have led Florida A&M in postseason bowl games: William M. Bell, Jake Gaither, Rudy Hubbard, Ken Riley, Billy Joe, and Willie Simmons. Seven coaches also won conference championships: Gaither captured twenty, Bell three, and Hubbard two, as a member of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference; Joe captured five, Riley two, and Taylor one as a member of Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference; Simmons captured one as a member of the SWAC. Gaither captured eight and Bell and Hubbard both captured two black college football national championships. Gaither also won the 1962 AP small college national championship and Hubbard won the 1978 NCAA Division I-AA football national championship.

Gaither is the leader in seasons coached, with 25 years as head coach and games coached (243), won (203), and highest winning percentage at .844. Jazz Byrd has the lowest winning percentage of those who have coached more than one game, with .222. Of the 19 different head coaches who have led the Rattlers, Gaither, Hubbard, Joe, and Joe Taylor have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

General		Overall		Conference		Postseason^{[A 1]}
No.	Order of coaches^{[A 2]}	GC	Games coached	CW	Conference wins	PW	Postseason wins
DC	Division championships	OW	Overall wins	CL	Conference losses	PL	Postseason losses
CC	Conference championships	OL	Overall losses	CT	Conference ties	PT	Postseason ties
NC	National championships	OT	Overall ties^{[A 3]}	C%	Conference winning percentage
†	Elected to the College Football Hall of Fame	O%	Overall winning percentage^{[A 4]}

No.	Name	Season(s)	GC	OW	OL	OT	O%	CW	CL	CT	C%	PW	PL	PT	DC	CC	NC	Awards
1	Jubie Bragg	1907–1909 1920–1925 1930–1932	33	11	19	3	0.379	1	14	2	0.118	—	—	—	—	0	0	—
2	Jazz Byrd	1926–1929	18	3	13	2	0.222	1	11	0	0.083	—	—	—	—	0	0	—
3	Ted A. Wright	1933	8	5	3	0	0.625	2	1	0	0.667	—	—	—	—	0	0	—
4	Eugene J. Bragg	1934–1935	18	9	8	1	0.528	5	7	0	0.417	—	—	—	—	0	0	—
5	William M. Bell	1936–1942	61	46	9	6	0.803	33	6	2	0.829	5	2	1	—	3	2 – 1938 1942	—
6	Herman Neilson	1943–1944	17	8	7	2	0.529	6	1	2	0.778	0	0	0	—	0	0	—
7	Jake Gaither^†	1945–1969	243	203	36	4	0.844	122	3	0	0.976	12	13	1	3	20	8 – 1950 1952 1953 1954 1957 1959 1961 1962	NAIA Coach of the Year (1969)
8	Pete Griffin	1970	10	5	5	0	0.500	3	1	0	0.750	0	0	0	0	0	0	—
9	Clarence Montgomery	1971	11	6	5	0	0.545	3	1	0	0.750	0	0	0	0	0	0	—
10	Big Jim Williams	1972–1973	22	10	12	0	0.455	6	4	0	0.600	0	0	0	0	0	0	—
11	Rudy Hubbard^†	1974–1985	134	83	48	3	0.631	30	9	1	0.763	7	0	0	—	2	2 – 1977 1978	—
12	Ken Riley	1986–1993	88	46	40	2	0.534	23	13	0	0.639	0	1	0	—	2	0	—
13	Billy Joe^†	1994–2004	132	86	46	0	0.652	56	17	0	0.767	3	7	0	—	5	2– 1998 2001	—
14	Rubin Carter	2005–2007	33	16	17	—	0.485	12	14	—	0.462	0	0	—	—	0	0	—
15	Joe Taylor^†	2008–2012	54	35	19	—	0.648	26	12	—	0.684	0	0	—	—	1	0	—
16	Earl Holmes	2012–2014	22	6	16	—	0.273	5	9	—	0.357	0	0	—	—	0	0	—
Int	Corey Fuller ^{[A 6]}	2014	4	1	3	—	0.250	1	3	—	0.250	0	0	—	—	0	0	—
17	Alex Wood	2015–2017	33	8	25	—	0.242	7	17	—	0.292	0	0	—	—	0	0	—
18	Willie Simmons	2018–2023	58	45	13	—	0.776	32	5	—	0.865	1	1	—	1	1	1 – 2023	—
19	James Colzie III	2024–2025	24	12	12	—	0.500	9	7	—	0.563	0	0	—	0	0	0	—
20	Quinn Gray	2026–present	0	0	0	—	–	0	0	—	–	0	0	—	0	0	0	—

v t e Florida A&M Rattlers football
Venues	Sampson-Bragg Field (1942–1946) Bragg Stadium (1947–1956) Doak Campbell Stadium (1974–1980; entire 1980 season) Bragg Memorial Stadium (1957–1979, 1981–present)
Bowls & rivalries	2023 Celebration Bowl Bethune–Cookman: Florida Classic Jackson State: Orange Blossom Classic
Culture & lore	"Rattler Orange and Green" Marching 100
People	Head coaches NFL draftees
Seasons	1907 1908 1909 1910–1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
National championship seasons in bold

v t e Head football coaches of the Southwestern Athletic Conference
East Division	Sam Shade (Alabama A&M) Eddie Robinson (Alabama State) Raymond Woodie Jr. (Bethune–Cookman) Quinn Gray (Florida A&M) T. C. Taylor (Jackson State) Terrell Buckley (Mississippi Valley State)
West Division	Cedric Thomas (Alcorn State) Alonzo Hampton (Arkansas–Pine Bluff) Mickey Joseph (Grambling State) Tremaine Jackson (Prairie View A&M) Marshall Faulk (Southern) Cris Dishman (Texas Southern)

List of Florida A&M Rattlers head football coaches

Coaches

Notes

References

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