Bethune-Cookman’s football program celebrated another milestone this past weekend when Wildcat safety-turned-Super Bowl champion Nick Collins was inducted into the Black College Football Hall of Fame.
When the great HBCU football teams are mentioned, Bethune-Cookman deserves a lot more love.
While not as glamorous as their SWAC counterparts at Grambling, Jackson State, Southern, or even in-state rival Florida A&M, the Wildcats have enjoyed several different eras of success at mostly every level of college football.
Which begs the question: is Bethune-Cookman HBCU football’s most underrated legacy program? They have a strong case.
Early Wildcat success
Bethune-Cookman’s first taste of success came in the Southeastern Athletic Conference, a competitor of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
Under coaches Preston Peterson and Bunky Matthews, the Wildcats won SEAC championships in 1942 and 1947 before leaving to join the SIAC in the early 1950s.
Matthews coached at BCU for 15 years, winning the SIAC title in 1952 as well as the Flower Bowl (1948), the Steel Bowl (1951) and the Tropical Bowl (1952).
Following Matthews’ retirement, a former player of his would retire from the NFL and become one of the pivotal figures in HBCU football and sports history.
The Cy McClairen Era
Jack Forsyth McClairen played six seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers before returning to Daytona Beach to serve as football coach, men’s basketball coach and athletic director.
One of Cy’s most famous pupils was an offensive lineman from Miami named Larry Little. Little blossomed under McClairen and Tank Johnson’s tutelage, earning all-SIAC honors three times.
Little went on to become a powerhouse blocker for the Miami Dolphins’ back-to-back Super Bowl championship teams in 1972 and 1973 and would get into coaching himself.
Another football player who would figure prominently in BCU’s football future was a speedy defensive back/kick return specialist from Jacksonville named Alvin Wyatt.
After McClairen stepped away from the football team following the 1972 season, Charles W. Moore took over for a brief three-season tenure and won the SIAC twice (1973 and 1975) as well as the 1974 Azalea Bowl.
Andy Hinson was next up, winning the SIAC in 1976 and leading Bethune to their first NCAA playoff appearance in 1977, a 31-16 loss to UC-Davis in the round of the Division II tournament.
The Wildcats joined the MEAC and Division I in 1980 and experienced growing pains until Larry Little returned in 1983 to lead the program.
After a 4-4-1 season that first year, Bethune-Cookman took the MEAC by storm in ‘84, finishing with a perfect 4-0 conference record and 7-3 overall, winning its first MEAC title and first conference title of any kind in eight seasons.
That would be the bulk of BCU’s success under Little, and even the return of Cy McClairen in the mid-90s couldn’t revive the program.
Enter, or re-enter, Alvin Wyatt.
Wildcats “Shine” under Wyatt
Following a five-year career as a return specialist in the NFL and the now-defunct World Football League, Wyatt served as an assistant coach at Bethune for 21 seasons – under Hinson, Bobby Frazier, Little and McClairen.
The man who would become known as “Shine” made the most of his opportunity.
Step One was installing the “Wyattbone” offense, a triple-option attack that thrived on athleticism, strategy, and the ability to confuse defenses.
Step Two was…well, being “Shine.” Whereas most coaches of the era preferred golf shirts and khaki pants in university colors, Wyatt dressed as if he were performing on the Tom Joyner Fantastic Voyage cruise.
The coach may have been cool, the Wildcats under Wyatt played tough, physical football, winning the MEAC in 2002 and making FCS playoff appearances in ‘02 and 2003. Among his players to make it to the NFL were hard-hitting safeties Nick Collins and Rashean Mathis and return specialist Eric Weems.
Brian Jenkins keeps the magic going
By the beginning of the 2010s, a new leader was in charge at BCU. Former Cincinnati wide receiver and offensive assistant coach Brian Jenkins installed a high-powered attack that terrorized MEAC teams for five seasons.
Jenkins’ Wildcats won a share of the MEAC five times, making FCS playoff appearances in 2010, 2012 and 2013.
Bethune-Cookman won a share of their last MEAC title under Terry Sims in 2015 and have been trying to get back into the championship chase since joining the SWAC in 2021.
Can Bethune-Cookman return to championship form?
Another former Wildcat player, Raymond Woodie Jr., now leads the program, and after a surprising 6-6 season in 2025, BCU is looking to make noise in the SWAC Eastern Division, which features Jackson State and Alabama State.
If there’s anything the history of Bethune-Cookman football can tell us, it’s that nothing is impossible for the school Mary McLeod Bethune started more than 100 years ago.
Every so often, a dynasty out of Daytona Beach pops up and succeeds when everything points to it being a surprise.
Except to Bethune-Cookman themselves.
