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Billy Joe (American football)

William Joe (born October 14, 1940) is an American former football player and coach. He played professionally as a running back in the American Football League (AFL).

Playing career[edit]

Joe was the American Football League Rookie of the Yearin1963 with the AFL's Denver Broncos. In 1965, he was traded to the Buffalo Bills for their legendary fullback, Cookie Gilchrist,^[1] and made the AFL All-Star Team, starting for the Bills in their 1965 AFL Championship victory over the San Diego Chargers.

Coaching career[edit]

Before becoming a head coach, his tenure as an assistant coach included a year at Maryland in 1971, making him the first African-American coach in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Joe later was a successful college head coach for 33 seasons. He coached at Cheyney University of Pennsylvania from 1972 to 1978, Central State University from 1981 to 1993, Florida A&M University from 1994 to 2004, and Miles College from 2008 to 2010. Joe achieved his greatest success at Central State, where his teams won two NAIA National Football Championships, in 1990 and 1992, and made many appearances in the NAIA football playoffs during the 1980s and 1990s. He teams at Florida A&M have made various appearances in the Division I-AA (now FCS) playoffs during the 1990s and early 2000s.^[2]

In addition, Joe has won five straight black college football national championships with Central State University (1986–1990) and one with Florida A&M (1998). In 2007, he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach.

Players coached by Joe who went on to the NFL/CFL/Arena League are:

• Central State University: Vince Buck, Vince Heflin, Erik Williams and Hugh Douglas
• Florida A&M: Jamie Brown, Jamie Nails, Terry Mickens, Dexter Nottage, Wally Williams, Earl Holmes, Robert Wilson, Tony Bland, and Quinn Gray

After a two-season absence as a coach, Joe was named head football coach at Miles College, an NCAA Division II school in Fairfield, Alabama on December 12, 2007. He resigned in October 2010, citing poor health. Assistant coach Patrick Peasant took over the team on an interim basis.^[3]

He finished his college coaching career with a record of 245–157–4. His number of victories are second only to Eddie Robinson among coaches at historically black colleges and universities.

Head coaching record[edit]

See also[edit]

• List of college football coaches with 200 wins

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• Billy Joe at the College Football Hall of Fame
• Career statistics and player information from NFL.com · Pro Football Reference