In December, Willie Simmons officially became an FBS coach when he was hired to lead the FIU Panthers. Now, he's set to start his new chapter against a familiar HBCU rival: the Bethune-Cookman Wildcats. FIU added Bethune-Cookman to officially round out their football schedule, with the game set to take place either on August 29th or August 30th.

Bethune-Cookman will be the only HBCU that Simmons and the Panthers will play in the 2025 season as they then face off against a Penn State team that ended their season in the expanded College Football Playoffs last season.  The matchup against Bethune-Cookman marks a fitting start to Simmons’ first season leading FIU, as he aims to maintain his streak of achieving winning seasons at every program he’s coached.

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Bethune-Cookman has seen its recent share of struggles since Willie Simmons became the head coach of Florida A&M in 2018. The Rattlers faced off against the Wildcats in the Florida Blue Florida Classic at the end of each season, with Bethune-Cookman defeating Willie Simmons's Florida A&M team in both 2018 and 2019. But, Simmons quickly turned the series on its head, as he led Florida A&M to three straight victories over Bethune-Cookman before departing the program to become Duke University running backs coach in 2023.

The game against Bethune-Cookman will certainly be a proof-of-concept of the type of team that Simmons's Panthers will be. He brings remarkable success to the team from Florida A&M, finishing his tenure with an impressive 45-13 record. He also guided the Rattlers through their transition from the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) to the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC). Since joining the SWAC, Florida A&M has only suffered two losses, both to the Deion Sanders-led Jackson State Tigers in 2021 (7-5) and 2022 (59-3).

Ironically enough, Bethune-Cookman is 4-0 against FIU when they play.The last meeting between the two teams was in 2014, when the Wildcats secured a narrow 14-12 victory and went on to finish the season with a 9-3 record. Simmons now hopes to end that losing streak and kick off his FIU tenure on a high note.