FAMU’s Hubbard on HOF ballot

IRVING, Tex. (June 13) – Former Florida A&M University head football coach Rudy Hubbard is one of 27 coaches from the divisional ranks on the 2016 National Football Foundation (NFF) & College Hall of Fame ballot announced on June 2. On the ballot for consideration for induction will be 76 players and five coaches from the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), and 92 players and 27 coaches from the divisional ranks (FCS, Division II, Division III, NAIA).

 Hubbard, an Ohio native, was head football coach at FAMU from 1974 to 1985, compiling an 83-48-3 record, which was highlighted back-to-back national championships in 1977 and 1978. His 1977 club ended the campaign as the nation’s only undefeated team (11-0), while 1978 club posted a sterling 12-1 mark, capping the season with first-ever NCAA Division I FCS (I-AA) National Championship, thanks to a 35-28 win over the University of Massachusetts in the Pioneer Bowl at Wichita Falls, Texas. The following season (1979), the Rattlers pulled off a stunning upset of the University of Miami, 16-13 at Doak Campbell Stadium.

Hubbard’s tenure produced nearly a dozen All-American players, highlighted by three-time first team All-American guard Tyrone McGriff (1977-79), who in 1996, became the first FAMU player to be enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame, as a member of the Hall’s inaugural Divisional Class of players. Should Hubbard be elected, he would become the third coach in the Hall of Fame to have served at Florida A&M joining the legendary A.S. “Jake” Gaither (1975) and William “Billy” Joe (2007), and the fifth Rattler Football personality, which includes former All-Americans Tyrone McGriff (1996) and halfback Willie Galimore (1999).