FAMU alumni have met their match in AD Tiffani Sykes

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Florida A&M alumni have criticized athletics director Tiffani-Dawn Sykes for her handling of the Rattlers' football coach search, including a lack of communication with alumni on the process.

As I watched, read, and listened to all the drama surrounding Florida A&M football these past few weeks, I just kept thinking, “Please don’t quit. Please don’t quit.”

But I didn’t have to worry. The Tiffani-Dawn Sykes I remember from our time together in the CIAA doesn’t have quit in her, and if anybody can ride out this FAMU tsunami, it’s “The Original Big Girl” (her words).

It's amazing how quickly “your folks” can turn against you. This doesn’t mean that Black people should look the other way when one of us is in the wrong, but the way FAMU alumni, boosters and students have been kicking up, you’d think Sykes put on a police uniform and shot an unarmed person of color in the back – while running away.

Even more embarrassing was all this nastiness right before the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. Wonder if they marched downtown singing, “We shall overcome, some D-A-A-A-Y!? Yeah, go sit down somewhere.

It all started to fall apart after coach Willie Simmons decided to leave for Duke. Looking to hire quickly with National Signing Day approaching on Feb. 7, Sykes had someone in mind. But when word got out that it was a Division II coach with only two years of head coaching experience, the stuff hit the fan. Hard.

They told Fort Valley State coach Shawn Gibbs in so many words, and I’m using the PG version: “Don’t you bring your behind to Florida. We don’t want you, and you won’t get any support from us.”

One alumnus even compared FAMU football to Michigan and said they expect the same caliber coach. Alumni want FAMU interim head coach James Colzie III to have the job. That should be a suggestion, not an ultimatum.

First off, who’s to say that a DII coach can’t be successful on the FCS level? Rod Broadway went from North Carolina Central to Grambling. Bill Hayes from Winston-Salem State to N.C. A&T. Pete Richardson from WSSU to Southern.

Division II has fewer scholarships and a smaller recruiting budget, but what if that same coach has more to work with. Gibbs is 16-5 in those two seasons.

FAMU did give Gibbs a present, however. FVSU extended his contract with a surefire raise.

Sykes received a no-confidence vote from the national alumni association and enough name-calling to start her own dictionary – from the same folks I’m sure that were kissing her behind in Atlanta at the Celebration Bowl.
People want to make Tiffani’s harassment about sexism. A large portion of it is.

Athletic administration is still a man’s world, and there are plenty of men, especially the OLD guard, who don’t think women should be in charge of an athletics department. Heck, they don’t think women should work in sports, period.

But here’s an ugly little secret: some women, especially the OLD guard, feel the same way, and they can be vicious!
But these Rattlers have met their match.

“The Original Big Girl” has a solid family support foundation and a strong backbone that hasn’t been broken the 20-plus years she’s worked at various HBCUs.

FAMU hired the right person for the job. And those same critics will again be kissing some behind before it’s all over.

Bonitta Best is sports editor at The Triangle Tribune in Durham.

Comments