February 5, 2005

5 FAMU assistants resign

Five assistant coaches, including the brother of embattled head coach Billy Joe, resigned from Florida A&M yesterday - leaving the team with two assistant coaches. The coaches resigning are: offensive coordinator and receivers coach James Joe, interim defensive coordinator and secondary coach Derek Hill, running backs coach Allen Bogan, defensive line coach Herbert Moore and linebackers/special teams coach Terry Jones.

The head coach, who is 86-46 in 11 seasons, was refused a contract extension following the 2004 season and was told he could be fired after next season. Billy Joe was told that no money was available to buy his contract out when he told the school he would take one. The athletic budget at the school has been slashed twenty percent with the possibility of future cuts looming large.

The Board of Trustees fired Fred Gainous as President in September following the mishandling of the school's aborted attempt to move up to I-A. The MEAC stripped A&M of 11 conference titles last year, including 2 in football, because of 196 violations of NCAA rules.

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