Sam Washington

Samuel Lee Washington Jr. (born March 7, 1960) is an American football coach and former defensive back who was the head football coach at North Carolina A&T State University. Originally from Tampa, Florida, Washington played college football at Mississippi Valley State. After signing with the Pittsburgh Steelers as an undrafted free agent, he played four seasons in the National Football League (NFL) for the Steelers and Cincinnati Bengals from 1982 to 1985.

Washington has been a football coach since 1987, beginning as defensive backs coach at Bethune–Cookman. He later held defensive coordinator positions at multiple other historically black universities, including North Carolina Central, North Carolina A&T, Mississippi Valley State, and Grambling State. Washington turned around a struggling defensive unit at Mississippi Valley State to one of the best in the Southwestern Athletic Conference and elevated the Grambling State defense to the upper tier of NCAA Division I FCS.

After seven seasons as defensive coordinator at North Carolina A&T, Washington became head coach in 2018. His first two seasons had a cumulative 19–5 record, back-to-back black college football national championships, and top 25 FCS rankings. After the 2020 season was canceled due to COVID-19, the football program moved from its longtime home in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference to the Big South Conference in 2021.

Early life and college career Born and raised in Tampa, Florida, Washington graduated from Tampa Bay Technical High School in 1978. Washington then attended Mississippi Valley State University, where he played at cornerback for the Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils football team. In 1992, Washington was assistant head coach, defensive coordinator, and special teams coordinator at Johnson C. Smith University, where he was also the head track and field coach. A&T's Twitter video of Washington's postgame locker room speech was widely shared; it ended with Washington remarking, "tell 'em to bring me my money." North Carolina A&T received a $330,000 payment from East Carolina for the game. A&T finished the season with a MEAC co-championship, 2018 Celebration Bowl title, black college football national championship, and year-end rankings in both FCS polls (no. 12 STATS, no. 11 AFCA Coaches).

Then in 2019, A&T went 9–3 for a second straight MEAC title. The team went on to win the 2019 Celebration Bowl and defended their black college national championship as a result. Although a spring 2021 season was an option, the MEAC declined to hold a football championship, so A&T decided not to compete at all in what would have been the last season before the athletics program would move to the Big South Conference.

In 2021, A&T's first season in the Big South, A&T finished 5–6.

Head coaching record conf champs in 2019 due to NCAA sanctions on Florida A&M