FIU football hires former FAMU coach Willie Simmons for vacant head coaching job

Experience matters – just ask Willie Simmons.

FIU athletic director Scott Carr has hired Simmons, 44, as the sixth football coach in the history of the program, the Miami Herald has learned exclusively from multiple sources.

This ends a rapid search to replace Mike MacIntyre, who was fired on Sunday after producing three straight 4-8 seasons. MacIntyre is owed the remaining three years on his contract -- as much as $2 million.

The other finalists to replace MacIntyre were FIU defensive coordinator Jovan Dewitt and UCF offensive coordinator Tim Harris Jr.

However, Dewitt and Harris do not have experience as a college head coach.

Simmons, who served this year as the running backs coach for a 9-3 Duke team, was the head coach at Florida A&M from 2018 to 2023, compiling a 66-24 record.

In fact, Simmons led the Rattlers to a 12-1 record in 2023, earning honors as the Southwestern Athletic Conference Coach of the Year.

Prior to that, Simmons spent three years as head coach Prairie View, producing a 21-11 record.

A native of Tallahassee, Simmons has recruited Florida – known for its outstanding high school football – for years. That, along with his experience as a head coach, is believed to be the key factors in Simmons landing the job.

FIU is expected to hold a press conference Monday introducing Simmons is expected.

For now, we know from Simmons’ Wikipedia page that his late father was a mechanic, and his mother was a math teacher.

Academics were stressed, and when Simmons brought home a “C” grade, he was nearly not allowed to continue to play football.

Nicknamed “Shotgun” because of his strong arm, Simmons was a star at Shanks High in Quincy, Fla., passing for 2,505 yards and 32 touchdowns as a senior.

He was named the Big Bend Offensive Player of the Year and received 25 scholarship offers. Miami was among his four finalists, but he chose the Clemson Tigers and coach Tommy Bowden – son of Florida State legend Bobby Bowden -- over the Hurricanes back in 2000. (Miami went 11-1 that season with Ken Dorsey at quarterback.)

Simmons was a backup in his first two years at Clemson. But in 2002, he split time at QB, completing 58.2 percent of his passes for 1,559 yards, six touchdowns and seven interceptions for a 7-6 Clemson team.

After graduating from Clemson in just three years, Simmons played his final collegiate season for The Citadel, leading the Bulldogs to a 6-6 record. That stopped a string of five straight losing seasons at The Citadel.

Simmons then played one season of lower-level pro football as he joined the Sioux City Bandits of the United Indoor Football League.

From there, Simmons went back to his hometown, serving as quarterback coach at Tallahassee Lincoln High School. In that one year at Lincoln, Simmons coached B.J. Daniels, who went on to start at the University of South Florida.

Since then, Simmons has coached college ball for each of the past 19 seasons.

In order, he served as a graduate assistant at Clemson; five years at Middle Tennessee, where he started as running backs coach and eventually became an offensive coordinator; and three years as offensive coordinator and running backs coach at Alcorn State.

That led to the head-coaching jobs at Prairie View and Florida A&M and then his assignment this year at Duke.

As for the FIU job, Simmons beat out two impressive candidates.

Harris brought with him the promise of successfully recruiting the South Florida area. He was a former track All-American at the University of Miami, and he went 14-0 in his one season as a head coach at Booker T. Washington.

As a college assistant, Harris coached for seven years at FIU and one season at Miami. He is practically a legend in local high school circles.

Dewitt, 49, has an amazing story, starting with the fact that he survived throat cancer and kept on coaching. For the past 28 years, he has served as an assistant coach at Northern Michigan; Fort Scott; Fairmont State; St. Norbert; Northern Iowa; Florida Atlantic; Army; UCF; Nebraska; North Carolina; and, since 2022, FIU.

It remains to be seen if Dewitt – or any other FIU assistant – will be retained by Simmons.