Rudy Hubbard (born 1946) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

player and coach. He served as the head football coach at

Florida A&M University Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU), commonly known as Florida A&M, is a public historically black land-grant university in Tallahassee, Florida. Founded in 1887, It is the third largest historically black university in the U ...

(FAMU) in

Tallahassee, Florida Tallahassee ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County, Florida, Leon County. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In ...

from 1974 to 1985, compiling a record of 83–48–3. Hubbard led the

Florida A&M Rattlers The Florida A&M Rattlers represent Florida A&M University (FAMU) in college athletics. Florida A&M is a member of the Southwestern Athletic Conference and participates in NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). FAMU offers men's ...

to the inaugural

NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship The NCAA Division I Football Championship is an annual post-season college football game, played since 2006, used to determine a national champion of the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). From 1978 to 2005, the game was k ...

, in 1978, and consecutive

black college football national championship The black college football national championship is a national championship honor that, since 1920, has been regularly bestowed upon the best football teams among historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) within the United States. Histo ...

s, in 1977 and 1978. Hubbard played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

, lettering from 1965 to 1967. Following his graduation from Ohio State in 1968, he remained with the Buckeyes for six seasons as an assistant coach under

Woody Hayes Wayne Woodrow Hayes (February 14, 1913 – March 12, 1987) was an American football player and coach. He served as the head coach at Denison University (1946–1948), Miami University in Oxford, Ohio (1949–1950), and Ohio State University (1951 ...

. In 2008, Hubbard returned to coaching the high school level, serving as head football coach at James S. Rickards High School in Tallahassee for four seasons. Hubbard was inducted into the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vote ...

as a coach in 2021.

Early life

Hubbard was born in 1946 in

Hubbard, Ohio Hubbard is a city in southeastern Trumbull County, Ohio, United States. It is formed from part of Hubbard Township, Trumbull County, Ohio, Hubbard Township, which was formed from the Connecticut Western Reserve. The population was 7,636 at the 20 ...

, a small steel mill town near

Youngstown Youngstown is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio, and the largest city and county seat of Mahoning County. At the 2020 census, Youngstown had a city population of 60,068. It is a principal city of the Youngstown–Warren metropolitan area, which ...

. He attended

, where he was a

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

from 1965 to 1967. After graduation, Hubbard was hired by then head coach

as an assistant coach in 1968, making Hubbard the first

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

on the coaching staff of the

Ohio State Buckeyes football The Ohio State Buckeyes football team competes as part of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, representing Ohio State University in the East Division of the Big Ten Conference. Ohio State has played their home games at Ohio Stadium in ...

team. He stayed on the coaching staff for six seasons before moving on to take the head coach position at

in 1974.

Florida A&M

After a 6–5 mark in Hubbard's first year in 1974, the Rattlers went 9–2 in 1975, 6–3–2 in 1976, then began a stretch from the 1977 to 1979 seasons, where they went 30–5. The Rattlers went unbeaten at 11–0 in 1977, and in 1978 the Rattlers went 12–1 and wrapped up the season winning the inaugural

held in

Wichita Falls, Texas Wichita Falls ( ) is a city in and the seat of government of Wichita County, Texas, United States. It is the principal city of the Wichita Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Archer, Clay, and Wichita counties. Accordin ...

on December 16, 1978, defeating the

UMass Minutemen The UMass Minutemen are the athletic teams that represent the University of Massachusetts Amherst; strictly speaking, the ''Minutemen'' nickname applies to men's teams and athletes only — women's teams and athletes are known as ...

by the score 35–28. Florida A&M remains the only

Historically black college Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the intention of primarily serving the African-American community. Mo ...

to have won the NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship. In 1979, the Rattlers went 7–4 but made an exclamation mark in the season with a 16–13 defeat of the Division I

Miami Hurricanes The Miami Hurricanes (known informally as The U, UM, or The 'Canes) are the intercollegiate sports teams that represent the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. The Hurricanes compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic A ...

. Hubbard spent 12 seasons with the Rattlers, and posted an 83–48–3 (.631) overall record, the third most wins in school history behind fellow FAMU head coaches

Jake Gaither Alonzo Smith "Jake" Gaither (April 11, 1903 – February 18, 1994) was an American football coach and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Florida A&M University (FAMU) for 25 years, from 1945 to 1969, compili ...

(203) and Billy Joe (86). The Rattlers also won two

Black college football national championship The black college football national championship is a national championship honor that, since 1920, has been regularly bestowed upon the best football teams among historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) within the United States. Histo ...

s in 1977 (shared with Grambling State and

South Carolina State South Carolina State University (SCSU or SC State) is a public, historically black, land-grant university in Orangeburg, South Carolina, United States. It is the only public, historically black land-grant institution in South Carolina, is a memb ...

) and in 1978. During Hubbard's tenure, FAMU transitioned from the

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is an intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environmen ...

Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference The Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. Formed in 1913, it consists mostly of historically black co ...

(SIAC) to NCAA Division I-AA independent status, and then joined

Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) is a collegiate athletic conference whose full members are historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the Southeastern and the Mid-Atlantic United States. It participates in the National C ...

(MEAC) in 1980. The players under Hubbard who went on to play in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) were Frank Marion (linebacker), Ralph Hill (offensive lineman), Tony Samuels (tight end), Clarence Hawkins (running back),

Greg Coleman Gregory Jerome Coleman (born September 9, 1954) is a former American football punter who had a 12-year career in the National Football League playing for the Cleveland Browns, the Minnesota Vikings, and the Washington Redskins. He attended Flo ...

(punter),

Gene Atkins Gene Reynard Atkins (born November 22, 1964) is a former American football safety in the National Football League (NFL) who played for the New Orleans Saints and Miami Dolphins from 1987 to 1996. He played previously for Florida A&M and James S. ...

(defensive back), Tyrone McGriff (guard), and

Nate Newton Nathaniel Newton (born December 20, 1961) is a former American football guard in the National Football League for the Dallas Cowboys and Carolina Panthers. He also was a member of the Tampa Bay Bandits of the United States Football League. He p ...

(Pro Bowl offensive lineman). Vince Coleman (Greg Coleman's cousin), was a kicker at FAMU under Hubbard, and a standout player on the FAMU baseball team, went on to a career in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

Later life

Hubbard was relieved of his head coaching duties after the 1985 season. He then took a long hiatus away from the coaching scene, working as an independent financial advisor. In 1990, he was inducted into the Florida A&M University Athletics Hall of Fame. In 2008, Hubbard reemerged on the coaching scene, when he was hired as head football coach at James S. Rickards High School in

, where he currently resides. After compiling a record of 12–25 over four years, Hubbard stepped down from his position at Rickards following the 2011 season.

Head coaching record

College

In 1978, FAMU was a member of SIAC, an

conference. FAMU had successfully petitioned the NCAA for Division I classification (

Division I-AA The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the Football Bowl Subdivision. Sponsored by the National Collegiate Athletic ...

in football), which took effect on September 1, 1978.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hubbard, Rudy 1946 births Living people American football running backs Florida A&M Rattlers football coaches Ohio State Buckeyes football coaches Ohio State Buckeyes football players High school football coaches in Florida College Football Hall of Fame inductees People from Hubbard, Ohio African-American coaches of American football African-American players of American football 20th-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American sportspeople