Latest / North Florida Sports Network Podcast / #236: Willie Simmons' Move to Duke and FAMU’s Next Coach

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#236: Willie Simmons' Move to Duke and FAMU’s Next Coach · North Florida Sports Network Podcast

• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Hey, what's up?
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Welcome back North Forrest Sports Network.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: It's January 3rd Coming at you live.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: It's about 10 o'clock.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: It's got back from the FSU basketball game but we're joined this time with Keith Hadley from Fangs Up podcast.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: Man, we were actually going to talk about all these recruits.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: Willie Taggart's been snagging in the transfer portal but he has now taken the job under Manny Diaz at Duke, the running back coach, so we still got Keith on.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: He's going to.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: We're going to talk to him about that and the impact of that.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: Bam you, if you haven't done so, download and subscribe to Fangs Up podcast.
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: That's Keith's podcast.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: You can download and do that anywhere where you get podcasts Apple, spotify.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: Keith man, what's going on?
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah, not much.
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: A lot of cost donation about the happenings on the highest seven years, but not too much else, man.
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: Just we're in the weeds right now.
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: Who's going to be the next coach.
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: You're not at all.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I know, man, it's shocking, you know to see, because you saw all the commits in the transfer portal.
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: So you, you know he was working all the way up to the end.
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: That's good to see, but what's?
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: What's the?
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: What do you?
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: What was your first reaction here?
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: Were you not surprised?
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: Did you think this was coming, or what did?
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: What was your first reaction?
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: I'll say I was, I won't say completely surprised.
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: I guess the surprise is that it was Duke, more so than it was that he was leaving, and I also felt like if he left it would be for a coordinator position, not a position coach.
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: But when you started to look at the money that Duke threw in him was literally double the salaries made at Fangview.
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: And also you started looking at him and Mani Diaz have a pretty existing relationship.
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: Mani Diaz, his son, was actually on the, on the coaching staff at Fangview.
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: You started to see where you know they go back to, where Middle Tennessee State, where Willie Simmons was there, and whatnot.
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: So it really it starts to make a little bit of sense.
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: But it makes a lot more sense when you really start looking at Willie Simmons' bonus.
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: You know, hey, willie Simmons is wanting to move up and he's never hit that, hit that.
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: He's been very transparent about his desire to one day become a coach at the FBS level.
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: You can only do that at Fangview for so long, especially he's like 43 years old.
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: If he stays at Fangview for 10 years, he's really, really he will have missed his window Right.
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: And what?
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: What are six seasons for Willie?
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: Willie Simmons, I'm sorry, goodness gracious not Willie Taggart.
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: They came in together, so it's understandable.
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: Right, right and gosh.
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: I mean who would have not?
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: I mean he was far and away a better coach.
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: I mean I mean it's just, the opportunity was there because, you know, one other coach was under a certain other coach and it's, it's crazy how like that opportunity and how risky and how fine that line is.
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: Because, I agree with you, I thought he was going to get a coordinator job, you know, and I was like who's calling plays?
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: But but when you think about it and then, like he said, the history and the coaching that they had together, it makes sense.
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: But looking back, you know there's nothing more else you can do at FAMU.
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: But where does FAMU go from here?
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: I'm hearing a few names.
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: We definitely heard Billy Roll, but that was shut down just because, if you listen to the verb, you're retired.
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: So one of the things about when you do retire, especially at the drop program, you gotta sit out for six months.
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: So this is kind of the backside of well, you'd have to sit out for six months, which would decimate your recruiting class.
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: But the name that is kind of starting to resonate now is Trey Oliver, the coach at North Carolina Central University, and I'm not breaking news.
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: Somebody else has mentioned him but I've had talk to others who we talked about him to private it would be a pay raise.
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: He makes about 185,000.
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: North Carolina Central who comes to FAMU, he's gonna get a base pay about 250, at least you also go to a state with no state income tax.
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: You just see, with the right little boosters and the alumni associations have done as far as within a 48 hour period.
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: They paid a couple hundred thousand dollars.
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: So you start to look at that.
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: Well, that's because they knew, and also they knew what they had in Coach Simmons and go back to, I think, what he's done at the program.
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: What did you see?
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: Where was the?
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: Can you take us through where he took the program from his time into where it is now?
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: I mean he turned chicken two season chicken salad.
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: I mean I mean it was a program that was riddled in mediocrity.
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: I mean the Alliswood era was an object disaster, before that the Earl Holmes era, which was another disaster.
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: I mean, really, your last coach that was halfway decent, joe Taylor, and his last.
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: He quit after he only wins three games and it's looking like the plane is falling into the side of a mountain.
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: So Simmons literally comes into a lost decade of football.
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: I mean, look at that, that decade where Willie Simmons comes in.
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: Both Fambi and FSU are terrible programs.
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: I mean you got Jimbo coming at the end of not really giving a flying heck and then you got Camus just couldn't get out of its own way.
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: And so he comes in and flips that program.
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: He turns it around from being a program that, okay, we can't win in any place to where you're winning on the football field, and then you address the issues of winning in the classroom.
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: So now you really you fixed the program.
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: You did everything you were supposed to do.
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: Fambi, you did what Dion did.
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: He did what he started.
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: I told you that's right, that's a good point, and you know, what else could you ask for?
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: And I think it's because of the familiarity that he has with Manning Diaz, but I do, you think I thought he was gonna get.
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: He's still gotta have that in mind and he's an ACC guy.
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: So I think one, the coach in the ACC too, is probably played in a factor.
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: Two, you think I think it played a small factor.
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, let's, let's, let's, let's talk about the elephant room.
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: Florida stays not long for the ACC.
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: So if Florida stays not long for this conference, how long are the top dogs going to stay there?
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: And then, what kind of doors that does that open up for you to come in there and all of a sudden you can fill in that void really quickly.
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: We've seen Duke be one of the better teams in the ACC this year, right Two years after coaching change, or you know, yeah, they, they were rolling on coaching.
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: I'd like to hire.
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: I'd like to hire the Duke, main off losing, no, no.
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: And what do you think?
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: I don't like many Diaz, but I don't like many Diaz no no.
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: To me.
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: I think he does fit the private schools.
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: I mean, his success was at Temple, a private school, but his biggest failure was at Miami, another private school.
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: So it's the good of going back to a private school where football is not the top sport you're not going to be the main guy and nobody really cares.
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: But at the same point they've invested Like Duke is invested in Wallace Way Stadium facilities.
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: They're actually really nice facilities.
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I remember I went there when there was a track and the track around the field.
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: You know that's where I went and I remember that.
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: But, like you said, many Diaz, you like, you don't like him as the head coach because he's proven to be a good coordinator, yeah.
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: And I agree with that.
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: That's a that's a fair assessment because the coordinator either.
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: I mean I just you know, it's nothing against the guys, nothing personal.
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: If I saw you know.
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: But it's just for me when I I like to judge the person by their track record, you know a liar is a liar, it's true to the truth maker and for me many.
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: Even going back to Texas, he had a few good years, but you know how much of that was in this, any coach, how much of this is talent, even when he was in Miami like it just didn't blow my socks off.
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: So that's for me, I don't know.
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I feel like Lucas, probably his last real chance at a big time power four coaching spot.
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah.
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: So if you had to, how long do you think until Famu names the coach here?
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: If you had to guess, I'm going to give it a.
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: Sadly I'm going to give it about two, about a month or two because of our AB, but traditionally it's a three month thing because family has a very bad habit of trying to create committees and it's very um, a lot of nepotism that goes on at my university and it's a lot of.
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: You got to know this person to get there and even the considering of Trey Oliver is nepotism.
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: Trey Oliver works with AD Sykes at Granite State University Right she works there and athletics and compliance.
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: He works there as a football coach.
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: He gets his master's from there and now, now that he is left, going to North Carolina Central right Does be on Sanders in that prime Is there any?
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: is there any trying to keep any of this staff together?
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: I know the recruit recruiting guys.
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: He off to Colorado.
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: Or about Ryan Smith?
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: Um, as far as I know, the hope is that you can keep at least the defensive side Right Offensively.
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: I mean, there's really nothing to keep offensively.
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: Um yeah, but that dark cloud defense, though I mean, you can keep some sort of intact, you know, with the coach Smith there, that would be a big pickup for whoever's task with the new job.
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you keep all of them.
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: And the worst of it is with your office the coordinator.
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: He was really the office of line coach, so really Simmons was calling all the plays.
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: So if you thrust him into the office of coordinator position, does the office look the same, does the office like any semblance, or do you just wash it and start a new?
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: So you really have to find an offensive coach, and I think that kind of bites um cold.
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: Your your co-head coach, sweetie rock in the in the in the tail, because he's the coordinator and the co-head coach but he doesn't get named the interim head coach, which I definitely felt some type of way about that.
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: And yeah what's up with that?
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: I mean, I think it's the elephant in the room to a certain degree.
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: Oh, you know, you know, makes sense.
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: Country boy from country boy from Perry you know that's true, we see you, but that's true.
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: But that's why you want to make sure, if you, if you know if he's willing to stick around or you know whoever that you're thinking about getting for the position.
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: You know, I think that's probably one of the reasons coach sent.
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: You know, coach Simmons, you know any head coach is going to want to get some for his staff.
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: But at certain places that's where you can't really do that.
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: You know, is that where you know cause I know that coach, you know that he probably wanted to get his staff probably some raises too.
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it was part of it and one of the things.
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: I mean they were over I want to say about $200,000 raised for coaches, so it wasn't specifically for.
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: Really, that's going to go to the coaching and the coaching staff and on some of that, you know, some of the coaches may have to do some additional things as far as schooling and other things, so that they can, you know, fall so that the university gets its compliance rules as far as hiring to green people and stuff like that.
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: But you know, it's just one of those things where, like you said, you've got to keep this staff together as much as possible, especially defensively, offensively, Right.
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: Well, what about?
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: Yeah, cause they're recruiting.
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: You know, like you have to keep, you need to come.
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: I mean, I know if you're going to take time to make a decision here, but maybe to just be like, hey, we're going to, we got some sort of person here, otherwise that's going to be tough to do.
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: I've seen a couple of the FSU players that had committed had now reopened their recruitment.
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I mean that's, that's the thing, because new coach comes in we're in Riz Like, are you committing to these same players, right?
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: So this is, you've got to feel on some of the gaps.
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: I mean you're losing players like General Hunt has entered the transfer portal, has already received the vision.
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: What offers?
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: So you got to.
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: You know you got to fill in this depth and you know you really don't have a month to play around.
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: The next national signing day is in February.
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: Right, that's where I was getting at.
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: I was in month away.
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: I think you need to, hopefully.
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: You know you've had a list, you know and you've been thinking about this, you know that's what you have hoped and you're not kind of blindsided.
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: You know you had your, your list and you have that.
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: But because you need to expedite it as soon as possible, you need to get through all that bureaucracy and get to a higher so he can get players, because you can get transfers nowadays and so many more, so much more talent on an annual basis.
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: So it's a must, man.
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: I mean honestly that, as an AD to me, you need to run, you need a rolling list for your three major sports and especially one of the things, take the AD sites.
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: Ad to me, Don Sikes is going to get something that not a lot of ADs get, and Mike Alford is going to be right there with her.
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: You're going to be hiring all your revenue producing sports under your tutelage and you consider, you know?
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: I know I saw FSU one tonight, but let's, let's go with a spade of spade, Right?
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: Leonard Hamilton ain't long for that program.
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: No you know, I like I like him.
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: Oh, I love coaching.
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: He used the lips gone.
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: No, Can't lose to you.
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: Got a good team though, for that conference stuff Right.
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: But I tell you what that game's changed and like you can't compete with football because all the money's going there and which, like well, we're not going to be able to pay the best players in basketball.
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: That's just the bottom line.
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: I mean.
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: Cleveland just left.
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: He was like our guy here, he's just another dude on Miami, you know, just dunking the ball in the alley it was.
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: But you know they did look.
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: They did look deep.
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: They were deeper than they had been.
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: They actually had some guys.
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: You know.
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: They got Primo Spears eligibility back.
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: That's big for them.
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: I like he's.
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: You know he's be able to score the ball Because unfortunately Jaylen Warre can't.
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: You can do everything else but score Well hey man.
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah, what's your problem, man?
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's going to be interesting though.
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: It's going to be interesting and I, like I said, I think what the alumni showed in the past couple of weeks was that you better get your stuff together, because far too often the alumni groups, especially the boosters on the booster member are sitting most of their meetings.
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: They're asked to shell out and roll out checks and they never say no, you are the wrong person, you're gonna get some no's.
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: So you need to make sure that you do your due diligence here, for not only the boosters but the football team itself, and you need to have those things in motion.
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: Yes absolutely Well, you know cause you got a lot of momentum right now, you know, fam use.
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: You got momentum man and you need to it's all right.
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: You know Willie is just moving on, he's it's not, and I think you need to take some of that money and get it to the right candidate so he can get in here and keep that momentum rolling.
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: Keith, man, I really appreciate you coming on and trying to break this down for us and we'll talk to you coming up in the future, man, Hopefully sooner after this hire is made than what you said a couple of months, man.
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: I hope it's sooner than that.
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I hope so too.
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: All right, keith man we'll talk to you next time.
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: All right, bro All right.
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: We had to go.
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: Alright, we gotta get on out of here.
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: I'd like to thank Keith Hadley and Fangs Up Coming on.
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: Hope Amy finds the next coach sooner rather than later and good luck to Coach Simmons.
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: Fsu Hoops with the big win tonight Over the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: Who's Damon Stottemire?
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: The Noles 31-60 from the field, shooting 51% from the shot, 41% from the on the arc.
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: That'll get done Over 40% there, 76% from the free throw line.
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: They out rebounded the Yellow Jackets 38-31.
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: So that's that.
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: You know.
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: Another seven steals for the Noles.
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: They laid the ACC there.
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: There's some bright spots there.
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: Let's get to the individual players.
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: It was a career high for Chandler Jackson off the bench, for 14 points.
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: He led the way.
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: Jameer Watkins had 11, all in the second half.
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: Darren Green Jr had 10.
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: Primo Spears had 10.
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: Baba Miller had eight.
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: Worley had nine, so a balanced effort.
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: Corrin had six.
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: Bull Bowen was six.
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: Gail Gagnon was four.
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: House had a three, nickelbury with a free throw.
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: So it was a well balanced effort.
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: I'll tell you what they need to get Baba Miller the ball more and get him more aggressive, because he can get a lot of shots off, a high percentage shot off easily.
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: I think he's got to learn to be the dominant player on this team and get more shots off, because I saw the moves inside.
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: I liked it tonight.
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: We need to keep doing that.
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: Spears has been a nice addition If he can stand in control and stop throwing those lobs to another bad lobby.
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: Add one in the last game.
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: But that's been a nice addition.
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: He's been playing at the end of the games as opposed to Worley, but we'll keep an eye on him.
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: We'll keep watching it.
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: As the ACC season is about to get underway, we'll keep an eye on the transfer portal.
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: Jimmy Reno is hanging out right over there in the cusp of it looking at and see what's going on.
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: We'll do all that and we'll talk to you next time right here on the North Florida Sports Network.