‘What more do we have to do?’ HBCU coaches are largely ignored.

Willie Simmons has compiled a 54-23 record as a head football coach at Florida A&M and Prairie View A&M, never posting a losing season. In recent years, several publications have named him among the rising prospects ready to take the reins of a Football Bowl Subdivision program.

After twice being a finalist for the top job at a mid-major program, he isn’t giving up, at 42, on his goal of coaching at a higher level. But in private conversations with agents, search firms and fellow coaches at historically Black colleges and universities, Simmons, a former Clemson quarterback, is reevaluating his strategy for climbing the ranks of college coaching.