Coaches to reunite at game in Florida

Saturday’s SWAC clash in Daytona Beach, Fla., will feature two head coaches who know each other well.

The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff will face Bethune-Cookman at 2 p.m. CDT on SWAC TV at Daytona Stadium. It will be Bethune-Cookman’s homecoming game.

UAPB (3-4, 1-2 SWAC) Coach Alonzo Hampton and Bethune-Cookman (3-4, 2-1) Coach Raymond Woodie worked together at multiple schools prior to becoming head coaches.

“I’m very familiar with Coach Woodie,” Hampton said. “I worked with him at four different places, him and Coach (Donte’ Pimpleton), the offensive coordinator. So, it’ll be like a family reunion. Excited about that, seeing those guys. Our families know each other well. … So, it’s exciting to be able to see all our families there and talk about some old times.”

Woodie began his collegiate coaching career under Willie Taggart at Western Kentucky in 2010, coaching defensive ends first, then linebackers. A year later, Taggart hired Hampton, who had been UAPB’s defensive coordinator, to coach defensive backs.

Taggart left WKU for South Florida in 2013. Woodie followed him to Tampa, Fla. Hampton spent the next two seasons coaching high school football in Georgia before joining the USF staff to coach defensive backs and special teams in 2015. Woodie was the associate head coach by this point.

Both followed Taggart to Oregon in 2017, then Florida State in 2018. Hampton finally parted ways with Taggart and Woodie when he joined Chad Morris’ staff at Arkansas as a defensive analyst for one season. Hampton then returned to his alma mater, the University of Louisiana at Monroe, as associate head coach before UAPB hired him as the head coach in 2023.

Woodie, meanwhile, stuck with Taggart when Taggart was named head coach at Florida Atlantic in 2020. He coached linebackers and special teams for the Owls before Bethune-Cookman hired him as head coach in 2023.

Hampton and Woodie are tied with Jackson State coach T.C. Taylor as the SWAC’s second-longest tenured head coaches. Only Eddie Robinson Jr. of Alabama State has been in his post longer.

Both enter this contest with identical 8-22 overall records in their 2.5 seasons in charge, though Woodie’s 6-13 SWAC record is a little ahead of Hampton’s 4-15.

GOOD VIBES IN DAYTONA

Bethune-Cookman was picked to finish fifth in the SWAC Eastern Division during the preseason, but Woodie has the Wildcats in third ahead of their homecoming game.

After starting 0-3 on the road against two FBS opponents and South Carolina State, Bethune has won three of its past four games. The Wildcats demolished Southern 45-14 in their most recent game on Oct. 11. They had a bye last week.

Woodie said the Wildcats need to keep improving, but everyone is feeling good right now.

“It’s a good feeling when you look at your team and they start to understand your vision,” Woodie said. “If they understand your vision and do what they supposed to do, then everybody’s happy. We’re getting the support we thought we would get. Obviously, when you’re doing well, people is willing to help out and do the things they need to do both on and off the field.”

UAPB was picked last in the West but enters this week tied for third with Grambling State, who slipped past the Golden Lions 20-16 in Pine Bluff this past weekend. UAPB is looking to keep pace with the Tigers and remain ahead of Alcorn State and Southern, both 0-3, in the division standings.

Bethune-Cookman enters this week 3-0 at home, while UAPB is 0-3 in true road games.

This will be the first meeting between UAPB and Bethune as SWAC opponents. The two last met in 2005, when the Wildcats won 31-17 in Daytona Beach.