Rudy Hubbard, recently inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in January, is the first Black American assistant football coach in Ohio State’s history.
He’s also one of four former Florida A&M head football coaches in the College Football Hall of Fame.
Still, he’s the only HBCU head coach to win an NCAA Division 1-AA (now FCS) National Championship for the Rattlers in 1978, in addition to winning two Black college national titles.
Despite his coaching success at FAMU, unlike the other three former Halls of Fame coaches (Jake Gaither, Billy Joe and Joe Taylor), Hubbard is not a Black College Football Hall of Fame inductee.
Established in 2009 by former Grambling quarterbacks James “Shack” Harris and Doug Williams, the BCFHOF – according to its website – was created “to preserve the history and honor the greatest football players, coaches and contributors” from HBCUs.
Also read: Florida A&M coach Rudy Hubbard to be among College Football Hall of Fame’s 2021 inductees
Making another appearance on “The HBCU Report with Rob Calloway,” Hubbard discussed the possible reasons why he’s yet to be inducted into the BCFHOF.
“I talked to Shack Harris. And Shack was saying some stuff that he felt like what I really needed to do was patronize all of the different events, Hubbard said. “I’m in the big one now. And I’m not about to be running around trying to negotiate for that, you know, that’s just not my style.”
Hubbard further expressed that another reason for not getting inducted could be related to the fact that he didn’t attend an HBCU as a student or that he didn’t coach at one before becoming the head coach at Florida A&M in 1974.
“Most of the guys when they go into the Black College Hall of Fame, that’s all they’ve ever done. It’s really been Black colleges all their lives. And there’s a certain part of that that guys like Shack appreciate that,” he said. “So here I come from Ohio State, and the last thing they wanted to see or hear is a Black guy coming in here from a white school who’s going to now tell-show us how to do this thing. There’s some of that out there. How deep it runs, I don’t know, but when you start talking about being shunned, you know, let’s just call it like it is. There’s some of that out there.”
In his 12 seasons at Florida A&M, Hubbard’s record is 83-48-3. He’s the third-winningest coach in FAMU history behind Jake Gaither (204-36-4) and Billy Joe (86-46).
You can listen to the entire interview below.
