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Can Quinn Gray fix FAMU football? Here's where new coach can start.
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- Can Quinn Gray fix FAMU football? Here's where new coach can start.
Quinn Gray Sr., Florida A&M 's new head football coach, has a tall order ahead of him.
He must lead a Rattler rebuild.
Albany State Golden Rams head coach Quinn Gray Sr. watches from the sidelines as his team plays in an NCAA Division II football game at the Albany State Coliseum in Albany, Georgia.
Two years after former head coach Willie Simmons guided FAMU to raising the Southwestern Athletic Conference and Celebration Bowl to claim the Black College Football National Championship , the program tumbled.
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Simmons, now the head coach of the bowl-bound Florida International, departed for Duke to be the running backs coach after the 2023 season. Assistant head coach and cornerbacks coach James Colzie III was promoted to FAMU's full-time head coach after Simmons left .
Colzie went 12-12 in two years, which included the Rattlers going 5-7 in 2025, FAMU's first losing season since 2017 . Colzie was relieved of his duties on Dec. 8, his 51st birthday.
Now, it's up to Gray to fix FAMU football.
The Rattlers' new head coach and FAMU and Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Hall of Fame quarterback has five years to make it happen .
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Resigning as Georgia-based NCAA Division II Historically Black College and University Albany State's head coach after three seasons for FAMU, Gray has a five-year deal worth $1.4 million with incentives through December 2030.
He will receive a starting salary of $240,000.
The FAMU Board of Trustees approved the contract for Gray to become the 20th full-time head football coach in a special meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 23.
Now that it's official, here's where Gray can reascend FAMU football to national prominence as the head coach of his alma mater.
FAMU football's Quinn Gray has to decide who and what he wants his team to be
A challenging task over the last two seasons was knowing FAMU's true identity, on and off the field.
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That showed as FAMU was consistently inconsistent.
One of the first things Gray should do is establish who his Rattlers will be and the brand of football they will play.
At Albany State , Gray's mantra was 'ALL-IN,' which proved to be a winning formula.
That slogan ballooned into the Golden Rams having a historic 2025 season. They went 12-2, the program's most wins in a single season, won the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship, and reached the Division II quarterfinals.
'ALL-IN' will accompany Gray to The Highest of Seven Hills.
The Albany State Golden Rams were named Division II's Black College Football National Champions.
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Gray went 24-11 overall and 20-4 in SIAC games at Albany State , just 87 miles north of Tallahassee.
Commanding the locker room and setting clear expectations may lead to early success in Gray's tenure at FAMU.
FAMU football's Quinn Gray can healthily divide NCAA Transfer Portal and high school recruiting
In the current era of college football, recruiting could get tricky.
With an influx of players entering the NCAA Transfer Portal, picking up ready-made talent would seem like the ideal option.
But it's not smart to live and die by the portal.
Attracting some high school prospects to the program could raise the floor while developing talent in-house. Then two to three years later, those homegrown players could help FAMU reach championship heights.
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Currently, FAMU has only two early signees: Jordan Davis from McArthur High School and Shermari Bowens from Southridge High School. Both of those Miami native offensive linemen signed their national letter of intent while Colzie was still the head coach.
However, Gray also has the opportunity to bring some of his SIAC and Black College title players with him, including quarterback Isaiah Knowles, the league's player of the year , and all-conference defensive backs Jonovan Carr and Tyrell Gainey.
Florida A&M Rattlers defensive back Corey Collier Jr. (10) tackles an opponent. The Florida A&M Rattlers defeated the Albany State Golden Rams during the first home game of the season on Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025.
All have entered the transfer portal and have offers from FAMU.
FAMU football's Quinn Gray must hire high-level coaching staff with $1.2 million budget
Having top-notch assistants is instrumental.
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That's pretty evident in Gray's contract, as he will have a $1.2 million pool to compensate his staff.
That comes after one of FAMU's SWAC foes, Southern, gave its new head coach and Pro Football Hall of Famer Marshall Faulk a $950,000 assistant salary pool.
In past years, FAMU has had a revolving door of coordinators and position coaches leaving for better opportunities.
A budget upwards of $1 million for those assistants may amend those departures and build continuity during Gray's time at FAMU.
And with gradual progress, Gray's Rattlers may be atop the SWAC and HBCU football and even ascend as a perennial power in the Division I Football Championship Subdivision as a whole.
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Gerald Thomas, III is a multi-time award-winning journalist for his coverage of the Florida A&M Rattlers at the Tallahassee Democrat.
Follow his award-winning coverage on RattlerNews.com and contact him via email at GDThomas@Tallahassee.com or on the app formerly known as Twitter @3peatgee .
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: FAMU football's Quinn Gray must lead a Rattler rebuild as new coach
