{"id":121647,"date":"2026-01-17T05:53:18","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T05:53:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/121647\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T05:53:18","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T05:53:18","slug":"famus-new-athletic-leadership-look-to-stabilize-programs-and-grow-nil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/121647\/","title":{"rendered":"FAMU’s new athletic leadership look to stabilize programs and grow NIL"},"content":{"rendered":"

Following the dismissal of head coach James Colzie III<\/a> on Dec. 8, Florida A&M University has hired Quinn Gray Senior to be the new head football coach and John F. Davis to be the school’s new Athletic Director and Vice President.<\/p>\n

Both were introduced by FAMU President Marva Johnson in a press conference Jan. 9, 2026, in the Alfred Lawson Jr. Multipurpose Center. <\/p>\n

“Today is just not simply about starting a new position; it is the beginning of an intentional path forward for this department,” said Davis, who stepped down as the Secretary of the Florida Lottery to take the FAMU job. <\/p>\n

In his prior role, Davis oversaw the appropriations of billions of dollars for public education in the State of Florida. A Pahookee, Florida, native and Florida State University alumnus, Davis played football under Bobby Bowden.<\/p>\n

Davis says he wants the FAMU athletic department to continue developing in the NIL [Name Image and Likeness] landscape of college athletics, while ensuring student athletes continue to receive the highest quality of education possible at the university. <\/p>\n

Those efforts, he says, will be guided by a “comprehensive, enterprise-level strategy” aiming to “assess, stabilize, systematize, modernize and transform” the athletic department.<\/p>\n

New head coach Quinn Gray was also formally introduced to the university. His appointment was finalized in December by FAMU’s Board of Trustees. Under the acronym “ALL IN” [Attitude, Little Things, Love, Intelligence, Now], Gray is looking to restore the football program following a dismal season that saw the team go 5-7 just two years after winning the Celebration Bowl.<\/p>\n

“It’s about putting kids in great situations, and if we can do that, I like us, all day long,” Gray said. “Smart, fast physical football is the brand we will bring.”<\/p>\n

Gray is a FAMU alum<\/a> and former quarterback. He previously coached at Albany State University, where he was 24 -11 over three seasons, including a recent NCAA Division II Quarterfinals appearance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Following the dismissal of head coach James Colzie III on Dec. 8, Florida A&M University has hired Quinn…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":121648,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[232,234,233],"class_list":{"0":"post-121647","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tallahassee","8":"tag-tallahassee","9":"tag-tallahassee-headlines","10":"tag-tallahassee-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121647"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121647\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/121648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}