Joe Taylor

Joe Taylor (born May 7, 1950) is an American college athletics administrator and former football coach. He is the athletic director at Virginia Union University in Richmond, Virginia, a position he has held since 2013. Taylor served as the head football coach at Howard University in 1983, Virginia Union from 1984 to 1991, Hampton University from 1992 to 2007, and Florida A&M University from 2008 to 2012, compiling a career college football coaching record of 232–96–4. Taylor led the Hampton Pirates to five black college football national championships (1994, 1997, 2004, 2005, and 2006) and eight conference titles. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2019.

Early years Taylor is a native of Washington, D.C. He graduated from Western Illinois University in 1972 and began his coaching career at H. D. Woodson High School in Washington, D.C. He served as a physical education teacher, head wrestling coach, and assistant football and baseball coach in the District of Columbia schools.

In 1978, Taylor was hired as the offensive line coach at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Illinois. He helped lead Eastern Illinois to the 1978 NCAA Division II Football Championship. In eight years as the head coach at Virginia Union, Taylor compiled a record of 60–19–3 for a .750 winning percentage.

Hampton From 1992 to 2007, Taylor was the head football coach at Hampton University, an HBCU located in Hampton, Virginia. In his first three years at Hampton, the school played in NCAA Division II and the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA). In 1993, Taylor's team was undefeated in the regular season, advanced to the quarterfinal round of the national playoffs, and became the first CIAA team in history to win 12 games in a season.

In 1995, Hampton moved up to NCAA Division I-AA (now known as Division I FCS) play and joined the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) in 1996. Taylor continued to win at the Division I-AA level and became "the most successful football coach in Hampton history." Taylor's Hampton teams won five black college national championships (1994, 1997, 2004, 2005, and 2006), eight conference titles (three in the CIAA and five in the MEAC), the 1999 Heritage Bowl, and seven trips to the NCAA playoffs. He was also named MEAC Coach of the Year for three straight years from 2004 to 2006.

In 2004, a New Jersey newspaper published a feature story on Taylor. Hampton athletic director Dennis Thomas asserted that Taylor had earned his chance to coach a major Division I-A program, but noted that he wouldn't be able to name a black coach out of a black university getting a chance to be a big-time college football coach, "It's never happened. What's that telling you?" Taylor insisted that the lack of offers did not eat at him or leave him bitter. He noted:"I've always seen coaching more about being a ministry than about X's and O's. I want to make a difference, and I think I do that where I'm coaching now. You won't hear me bellyache. You can do anything in this world if you believe in it and map it out. If one man can do it, that means another man can do it too. Do what Sylvester Croom has done. Do what Tyrone Willingham has done. There's a road map out there, I tell the young coaches now. Follow what they did." In his first two seasons at FAMU, Taylor turned the program into a winner, compiling records of 9–3 in 2008 and 8–3 in 2009. In November 2009, FAMU athletic director Bill Hayes praised Taylor's contributions, "He has recruited better, and he has inspired and organized the program in such a way that he has been able to maximize the talent here. Joe had such a solid plan and approach to building winners until the players just bought in. They bought into what he was trying to do, and it didn't take him long."

On Saturday, November 3, 2012, he announced his retirement at the end of the season to his players during their pre-game breakfast prior to that day's game against North Carolina Central. The Rattlers lost that game, falling to 3–6 and ensuring the first losing season in Taylor's tenure at Florida A&M. Just four days later, Taylor announced he was resigning effective immediately.

Personal life Taylor is married to the former Beverly Richardson. They have two adult sons, Aaron Taylor and Dennis Taylor. Member of the Noble Klan of Men, Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity, Zeta Mu chapter.

Head coaching record