FIU is hiring Willie Simmons to be its next football coach, people involved in the decision confirmed The athlete on Saturday.

Simmons, currently the running backs coach at Duke, will replace Mike MacIntyre, who was fired last weekend after three straight 4-8 seasons. Simmons, a 44-year-old native of Tallahassee, Florida, will be the seventh head coach in program history.

Tim Harris Jr., most recently the offensive coordinator at UCF, was one of the finalists for the job.

Before spending the 2024 season at Duke, Simmons was the 45-13 head coach at Florida A&M. He led the Rattlers to a SWAC championship and a berth in the Celebration Bowl in 2023, his final season with the program. He played quarterback at Clemson for Tommy Bowden (2000-02) and at The Citadel (2003).

The FIU program was founded in 2002, played FBS games for the first time three years later, and has only had four winning seasons in its existence (the last came in 2018 under Butch Davis).

Mario Cristobal is the winningest coach in program history with a record of 27-47.

MacIntyre had three years left on a contract that paid him $750,000 a year and where a buyout is about $1.1 million.

In August, the school signed a deal to rename its football stadium after the artist Pitbull, which brought in $1.2 million annually over five years. The agreement is also expected to help provide name, image and likeness compensation to athletes.

It is necessary.

More than a dozen players have announced plans to enter the transfer portal. Among them are quarterback Keyone Jenkins, standout receiver Eric Rivers, four starters on the offensive line, starting linebacker Travion Barnes and starting safety Hezekiah Masses.

The highest point in program history was beating crosstown rival Miami in November 2019. That was the last season FIU participated in a bowl game. The Panthers lost 18 of their next 19 games and Davis, who owns the program’s best winning percentage (.429), was fired at the end of a 1-11 season.

The school has produced 10 NFL draft picks so far, but none since 2020. The most famous NFL alumnus is four-time Pro Bowl receiver and 2010 Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year TY Hilton.

(Photo: Rich Story/Getty Images)