The Florida A&M head coaching search is set to continue. Florida A&M Vice President of Athletics Tiffani Dawn-Sykes announced that she will be allowing a currently unspecified search firm to assist in choosing who will serve as the 19th head coach of the football program following the departure of Willie Simmons to Duke University. Florida A&M will also establish a committee of university stakeholders to be a part of the search for the next head coach of the program, passed in a vote at the end of the meeting.

Sykes first laid out the timeline of events that led to her decision.

“Upon learning of Coach Simmons's decision to pursue another opportunity, I began outlining my vision for FAMU's 19th full-time head football coach. After establishing my vision for this role, based on what I determined to be programmatic needs on and off the field, I met via conference call with the Family Football Leadership Council. I also took calls from individual football players to find out what was important to them in identifying our next head coach. I immediately began the search. It was important to me that the search be comprehensive and thorough, yet swift. I enacted this strategy because I wanted to provide stability to the program and also being mindful of the upcoming National Signing Day on February 7th.

“I was motivated by the desire to retain all of our talented student-athletes, as many coaches as we could possibly retain, and to have a coach identified before the upcoming signing day. A number of candidates were considered for this vacancy. I received calls, emails, and texts from agents, co-workers, alumni, and coaches referring themselves or others. After reviewing candidates, I narrowed a pool, I narrowed to a pool of smaller candidates, and shared their resumes and my feedback on these candidates with Chairman Parker and President Robinson. From that, I recommended a candidate for hire to President Robinson, who after interviewing that candidate, supported my decision.

“After receiving his support and the support of Chair Harper, who also interviewed the candidate, I began providing individual briefings to the Board of Trustees. While conducting those meetings, unbeknownst to me at the time, this information was shared on social media. I immediately began receiving calls, texts, Emails and notifications from constituents who are disappointed in the process. I read hundreds of emails from die-hard supporters demanding more transparency about the process and inclusion in the process. And I urge you all loud and clear. It is clear to me that we have the same goal. We all want what's best for our student-athletes and for our championship football program.”

She then formally announced that she will be securing a coaching committee to identify candidates to lead the football program and that they intend to have a coach hired by National Signing Day on Wednesday, February 7th.

“I'm willing to do what is needed to continue developing relationships and building trust with our constituents. I will do so by making sure your voices are heard in this very important process. Moving forward in this process, I will be utilizing a search firm. The firm will begin by conducting interviews with constituents to find out what is important to them and our next head coach. This will be done to give the broader family community an opportunity to be a part of this process. Your valuable feedback will be combined with my vision for the role and the requirements for the job to allow the search firm to identify candidates that fit our collective desired profile. The search firm will then provide me with those candidates I will review, enter, and then recommend selected candidates for the vacancy.”

Fort Valley State head coach Shawn Gibbs was reported to be the preferred candidate of Sykes, which caused outrage amongst Florida A&M alumni and stakeholders. The Rattler community wanted an internal hire in hopes of keeping the success that the program enjoyed in the six seasons that Simmons was head coach. Gibbs has since signed an extension to stay on as head coach at Fort Valley State.

Florida A&M alumni, players, and other stakeholders widely prefer associate head coach and current interim head coach James Colzie III and FAMU great Billy Rolle. Colzie said in comments obtained by the Tallahassee Democrat.

“You hope at the end of the day, everyone does what’s best for Florida A&M, and I think that’s where we're headed,” Colzie said in a quote obtained by Gerald Thomas III. “When you lose a big-time figure like Coach Simmons, you want to make sure you get the right piece. I’m extremely optimistic that I’ll get the opportunity to lead our young men.”

Throughout this process, a few players who transferred to Florida A&M following the end of the season have since reentered the transfer portal. Also, beloved Director of Recruiting Devin Rispress departed the institution to join Deion Sanders and Colorado as Assistant Director Of Player Personnel/High School Relations.