Hampton's Taylor sets example in MEAC

Photo: Hampton's head coach earns respect from DSU, other rivals

By KRISTIAN POPE, The News Journal

DOVER -- Joe Taylor's first job in college football, as an assistant coach at Eastern Illinois in 1978, was just as important as the one he holds now.

Maybe that is the secret behind Taylor's quiet rise through the college ranks.

"I guess I was told, wherever you are is supposed to be the best job," Taylor said.

A virtual unknown to the mass-consuming audience of college football, the head coach at Hampton University is showered with great esteem within his own sect.

Winners of three-straight Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference championships and seven playoff bids, Taylor's Pirates have placed the bar where few programs can reach.

Delaware State coach Al Lavan, who brings his team to meet Taylor's Pirates at 1 p.m. Saturday at Armstrong Stadium in Hampton, Va., holds reverence for Taylor's exploits.

The Hornets' only victory over a Taylor-led Hampton team occurred in 2004, in Lavan's first season at DSU. Taylor is 11-1 all-time against the Hornets.

"Teams that do that, it's not an accident," Lavan said. "Joe Taylor for a number of years has had his program running at a high level, and that's impressive."

Morgan State head coach Donald Hill-Eley, who also worked as an assistant under Taylor, echoed the sentiment.

"It's hard to do anything in life three times," Hill-Eley said. "You just have to respect who they are. It doesn't happen haphazardly."

In 15 seasons at Hampton, Taylor has directed his team to eight conference titles (CIAA and MEAC). He owns a 194-73-4 record with the third most wins among active Division I-AA coaches.

Taylor, who attended Western Illinois, began his career in the mid-1970s as a physical education teacher around Washington, D.C., before he was offered a chance to coach the offensive line at Eastern Illinois.

In 1984, he took over at Division II Virginia Union and took the program to three division playoffs.

Taylor took over then-Division II Hampton in 1992 and has been on a roll ever since. Since Hampton classified as Division I and joined the MEAC in 1995, he has won 102 games against league opponents.

Taylor takes it all in stride.

"We've been blessed in this profession," Taylor said. "At Eastern Illinois, we won a Division II championship, so that was great. Virginia Union, we won some championships there. But you just wake up every day and take what the Lord gives you and try to make the best of it. Maybe when I'm sitting in the rocking chair I'll look back on it."

Taylor has been long rumored to be an overdue candidate for a I-A job. He said he's spoken with some I-A leadership, but the positions were never enough to warrant leaving the Pirates.

Last year, Taylor relinquished his role as Hampton athletic director to concentrate on football. That move started rumors of his pending retirement. But Taylor laughed off any notion of retiring soon.

"I look at the guys who retired, and they don't last long," Taylor said. "As long as your health is good and people want you around, you just enjoy what you're doing and you don't look that far ahead."

Without question, Taylor's success in recent years has allowed him to lure many transfers from upper-division programs and high school recruits who wouldn't normally go to Hampton.

Five Pirates players last year were invited to the NFL combines. Even the best players Delaware State has offered in recent years, linebackers Kenny Kern and Sam Smith, were talented but failed to be included in the type of consideration Taylor's players regularly receive.

Despite losing 14 seniors to graduation, Hampton remains in a position to win a fourth championship. It enters Saturday's game with a 3-0 record, all against MEAC competition.

While no one wants to be Taylor, coaches want the secret to his successes.

"His program is much more attractive to attract high-level people," Lavan said. "The consistency in the acquisition of personnel is critical at a certain point. The ability to acquire personnel and use them in that context, that's why guys win."