Will anyone hold Willie Simmons accountable?

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The last few days have been nothing less than challenging for the FAMU football fanbase, which has long been recognized as one of the marquee programs in HBCU football.  
 
In a matter of five days, FAMU football has gone from being a marquee brand to looking like the "Animal House" of college football.
 
Late Thursday, according to Head Coach Willie Simmons, the FAMU coaching staff received word that as many as 26 football players they had anticipated making the trip to Chapel Hill were deemed ineligible for a myriad of reasons.  
 
So, are we all really supposed to believe the Simmons story line: That he ---nor his any of his 15 coaches--- did not know the players status?  Say it enough times, and maybe you’ll be tricked into believing it.
 
Simmons’ narrative carries no water. 
 
According to a statement issued late last night, the university wrote "on August 13^th, we began submitting (NCAA) waivers request based on feedback back from our coaches”.  At this point, Willie Simmons knew, or he should have known.  In a real sense, he should have known the status of each player long before then, when summer classes ended.
 
After all, who exactly, is running this football show?  Willie Simmons, that’s who.  

 
Simmons who is regarded as one of ESPN’s  “45 minority coaches under 45 to watch for future Division I head-coaching jobs” is engaging in a tricky bit of shenanigans, designed to preserve his marketability for future coaching jobs and to publicly shame his employer for dismissing his longtime pal Korte Gosha. 

Mr. Simmons has been using the FAMU job as a stepping stone since he got here.  Lest we forget, just last year Simmons was seeking an assistants job at the University of South Carolina.  No sooner than that deal fell through rumors began swirling that he was again interviewing for a vacancy at FIU.   

By all reports, the Rattler football team is loaded this year, and are again expected to be one of the top FCS football teams in the country, and if Simmons' past history is any indicator, after the season ends he'll be out again looking for the next great job.

 
Clearly, Simmons and Gosha had a productive working relationship and strong personal friendship dating back to their days at Middle Tennessee State University.  It was Simmons who recommended Gosha for the FAMU AD job. 
 
Now with Gosha gone, Simmons has lost a voice and champion for his football program and he’s still feeling “some type of way”.
 
Gosha’s exit left Simmons in his ‘feelings’ to the point where he penned a lengthy Facebook post telling the FAMU fanbase, “I propose this in the meantime…if you choose to, close your checkbooks (temporarily), but open your mouths.”

Coach Simmons on
phone with reporter.

In the past few days, it has been Simmons who has been opening his mouth and feeding the media with a steady stream of information out of FAMU football designed intently to deflect from his own deficiencies.

Since Simmons' arrival at FAMU in December 2017, his football team has been better on the field, however their Academic Progress Rate has consistently been lower than the NCAA requirement of 930.  In 2018-19, FAMU football's APR was 925 , this year 2020-21 it fell to 868, and the multi-year average was the lowest was the lowest in Division 1.

 
As for right now, Simmons is winning the media war with his recalcitrance and disdain for making private business public.  

Why is Simmons doing this?  Simple to protect his personal brand.  

On and on goes the spectacle. Simmons, Animal House president, through his strategic use of the media is able to make everyone around him respond and react to his whims. 

Just yesterday, more than 80 FAMU players signed a scathing, albeit a very well written letter five page letter to President Larry Robinson, expressing their very valid concerns with academic advisement, nutrition, and support for summer school.  These are some of the same concerns that the general student population have raised on Facebook and Twitter in recent weeks around academic advisement and student support that FAMU needs to immediately address. 
 
"I definitely support them, these are their feelings and they haven't been coerced into them," Simmons told ESPN on Monday night. "I'm proud of those guys for advocating for themselves and joining the long legacy of people at Florida A&M standing up for those that are underserved."
 
Will anyone have the nerve to step up to Simmons and stop this sordid show?

In times gone by, before social media and the 24hr news cycle, great coaches such as Knute Rockne, Jake Gaither, Eddie Robinson, and Woody Hayes all understood that there is no " I " in team, and you would have to believe that they would be actively working with their universities to stop the sh*t show, instead of enjoying it.