FAMU football's James Colzie on hot seat chatter, 'Hasn't been smooth sailing.'
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James Colzie III’s tenure as Florida A&M’s head football coach hasn’t gone as planned.
Since accepting the job before the 2024 season, the Rattlers have gone 12-11 under Colzie’s leadership.
That includes currently being 5-6 and 4-3 in the Southwestern Athletic Conference, with one more game to spare in the 2025 season at Mississippi Valley State this Saturday, Nov. 29.
“There hasn’t necessarily been a smooth sailing for the last 20 months as far as being the head coach up to this point,” Colzie told local media in his weekly press conference on Nov. 24.
“Haven’t necessarily played as well as we needed to play.”
The Rattlers’ tumultuous season hit another bump in the road at last Saturday, Nov. 22’s Florida Classic versus rivals Bethune-Cookman at Orlando’s Camping World Stadium.
On a busted coverage, FAMU allowed Bethune-Cookman to snatch a 38-34 victory on a 41-yard touchdown pass by Timmy McClain to Josh Evans with 22 seconds left in the game.
It shattered FAMU’s four-game Florida Classic winning streak over Bethune-Cookman. The Rattlers hadn’t lost the longstanding rivalry game since 2019.
The 2020 season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so there was no Florida Classic.
Colzie was candid, saying his players were “not trusting one another” on the game-sealing play.
“In this business, you get a lot of firsts. They don’t give you many seconds,” Colzie said. “In my 25 years of coaching, believe it or not, I’ve never lost a game in that kind of capacity. People talk about the 24-hour rule. It’s taking a little longer than 24 hours to get over this one.”
Colzie arrived at FAMU in 2022 as former head coach Willie Simmons’ cornerbacks coach. Colzie then added assistant head coach to his title in 2023, when FAMU captured its first SWAC championship and Celebration Bowl victories en route to being named the Black College Football National Champions.
Two weeks after the confetti fell onto the Rattlers in Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Simmons left FAMU to be Duke’s running backs coach on Jan. 1, 2024. Colzie was promoted to replace Simmons on Jan. 27, 2024.
He signed a three-year contract worth $720,000. Colzie is set to make $250,000 during the 2026 season.
A subpar record and a Florida Classic loss have been the final straw of the Colzie era for some Rattlers fans, who are calling for the FAMU head coach’s job.
“Taking this position, you understand the standards, the expectations of this program and knowing where we have come from,” Colzie said. “We have not met the expectations.”
Since Colzie’s hire, there have been constant administrative changes.
There have been five athletic director changes, interim and full-time, since he took over the FAMU football program.
Florida Lottery secretary John Davis is set to make that six come Jan. 5, 2026, when he becomes FAMU’s new Vice President and Director of Athletics.
And while FAMU has been inconsistent on the football field, a positive has been Colzie’s ability to help improve the Rattlers’ football team’s struggling Academic Progress Rate.
“The totality of our program, the infrastructure, stability, if you take a hard look, you may think differently,” the FAMU coach explained. “You want to continue to have this standard set and have those things that are needed, then truly, truly look at what’s needed for programs across the country. There’s a complete support system.”
James Colzie III hopes to reverse hardships of FAMU football coaching tenure
Colzie will conduct an end-of-season assessment to determine where the Rattlers have thrived and where they have fallen short under his watch.
“If granted, given the opportunity, blessed with the opportunity, you have to look at the program daily as far as what improvements need to be made. And that’s my job,” he said. “Those are things that need to happen.”
But for now, FAMU is preparing for a revenge match on the road versus the Mississippi Valley State Devils (1-10, 0-7 in SWAC) this Saturday.
It’s a makeup game for the cancelled Georgia Football Classic, which was set to be played in Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Oct. 4 until contractual issues arose with the promoters.
Last November, Mississippi Valley State sent FAMU’s 23-game home winning streak up in flames.
The Delta Devils left Ken Riley Field at Bragg Memorial Stadium with a stunning 24-21 victory. It was Mississippi Valley State’s lone win in 2024.
So, the Rattlers are seeking retribution on the Delta Devils while also aiming to finish the season with an even .500 record at 6-6.
“Winning gives you an opportunity to build on what’s going to happen in the spring,” Colzie said.
FAMU at Mississippi Valley State kicks off at 3 p.m. Eastern Time at Itta Bena’s Rice-Totten Stadium. The game will be televised on SWAC TV, and Tallahassee radio station 96.1 JAMZ will provide additional commentary.
Florida A&M (5-6, 0-1 in SWAC) at Mississippi Valley State (1-10, 1-7 in SWAC)
- When: Saturday, Nov. 29 at 3 p.m. Eastern Time
- Where: Rice-Totten Stadium in Itta Bena, Mississippi
- TV/Radio: SWAC TV, 96.1 JAMZ
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: Florida A&M football coach James Colzie candid about hot seat chatter
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