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Former HBCU Rival Coaches Band Together at ULM

Former HBCU Rival Coaches Band Together at ULM

Football Aug 14
By ULMWarhawks.com Online Columnist Paul Letlow

ULM assistant football coaches Broderick Fobbs and Jason Rollins have traditionally been better friends than foes.

The pair of veteran mentors first joined forces as assistants at Northwestern State in 2002, then reunited at McNeese State. Hired in the offseason by ULM head coach Terry Bowden, they're now working on their third staff together. They form a powerful tag team they believe makes them better coaches and men.

"Rings follow everywhere we go," Fobbs said with a laugh. "He pushes me to another level and I try my best to push him to another level as well."

"You know when you say iron sharpens iron?" Rollins said. "That's exactly what it is. Every day, you know he's going to bring intensity, fire and get the most out of his players. You have to be able to match it, so your guys can compete with his guys."

The two longtime buddies were also "bitter" rivals for a short stretch when Fobbs served as head coach at Grambling State and Rollins was first an assistant, then interim head coach at Southern University. For anyone unfamiliar with the rivalries in the world of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Grambling vs. Southern is a biggie.

"I kind of look at it as a sibling rivalry," Fobbs said after a recent preseason ULM practice. "A sibling rivalry can be really, really nasty. But at the end of the day when you go home, it's still your brother."

As he reset ULM's staff in the offseason, Bowden hired Fobbs first as his running backs coach, then added Rollins as special teams coordinator on his friend's strong endorsement. The fit has been even better than Bowden anticipated.

"I'm so fortunate to have gotten Broderick Fobbs and Jason Rollins on this staff," Bowden said. "They're both fine mentors and family men who love to coach the game. But because of their unique background before ULM, being head coaches at an HBCU, I know they've had to do a lot with less. Financially, they can take a budget and realize winning or losing is not about if you have the biggest budget or not. You find a way to do good with what you've got."

Part of the fit is knowing how to manage limited resources. Both Fobbs and Rollins have thrived in similar situations.

"I think it makes you better," Fobbs said. "When you have unlimited resources, you have everything at your disposal and you can do everything you want to do. When you don't, you have to be creative. Being creative makes you a better person. You know you can do it with resources. If you don't have it, you have to figure out how to get it done. That's something we were forced to do and I'm glad. I know how to make things stretch and that's important."

There's also a mutual respect and shared wisdom among men who have all led their own programs as head coaches.

"The thing I learned the most is, you've got to be the thermostat," Fobbs said. "When you are the head coach, you set the tone for the entire day for the staff, the coaches and players, everybody. If you come in there flat, then everybody else is going to come in there flat. I'm able to use that now. I'm able to get my players going in my particular room but then that also feeds into other rooms and gets everyone out there excited to play the right way."

Said Rollins: "Being a head coach, you know what you want from an assistant. You know you need good people around you. Guys who want to take your culture and make it your own. See your vision and make it their own. Coming back as an assistant, you know exactly what a head coach wants. You can be the assistant you'd want for yourself. You work hard, toe the line and get everything done that he wants done."

Added Bowden: "As head coaches, they've had to learn how to build with programs that are financially similar to ours. But it's not just that. They bring Louisiana backgrounds with them, having played high school and college ball in the state. Having coached almost all of their lives in the state, they have great connections. They bring a multitude of benefits to this football program. It's been an incredible blessing and they've been a great addition to this staff."

Fobbs and Rollins only met once in the Bayou Classic, which is the annual rivalry game between Grambling and Southern. Rollins was an assistant at Southern in 2021 when the game was played on April 17 at Shreveport's Independence Stadium. The Jaguars won 49-7.

"I've never beaten him on the other sidelines, whether I was an assistant or whether he was the head coach," Fobbs said.

Typically held in the New Orleans Superdome, the Bayou Classic itself is a festive event with high stakes, comparable to a major bowl game.

"It is a different world," Fobbs said of the Bayou Classic. "It's an entertainment explosion. Whatever you want is there. If you want concerts, it's there. If you want to see the bands, it's there. If you want to see great football game with two great teams that are athletic with speed all over the field, it's there. If you want to see people dressed up with their heels and slacks on, it's there as well. It's an awesome event and something everyone should take the time to be a part of.

"I'm glad I was a part of it, but now I'm glad I'm part of something else. I'm fortunate to be on this side at the University of Louisiana Monroe. My brother Coach Rollins is doing a heck of a job and the whole staff is doing a heck of a job. I'm enjoying it."

Said Rollins: "It's like the HBCU Rose Bowl. You have 70,000 people cheering. One side this color, the other side that color. Family vs. family, but after it's over, everyone is together. You have the parades and banquets. It's a bowl game atmosphere as if it's Alabama vs. Georgia."

Fobbs has come full circle back to ULM. He grew up near campus in the Cypress Point subdivision and spent time around the program when father Lee Fobbs served as an assistant coach under Dave Roberts in the early 1990s.

After a standout career at Carroll High School, he played running back for legendary Grambling State coach Eddie Robinson. Fobbs served as a two-time team captain for the Tigers, who won the 1992 HBCU National Championship by defeating Florida A&M 45-15 in the Heritage Bowl.

Following in his father's tracks, coaching came next. Starting as a graduate assistant at Louisiana Lafayette, Fobbs worked his way up the coaching ranks with stops at Northwestern State, McNeese State, Southern Miss, and McNeese again before being named Grambling's head coach in 2014.

In eight seasons at Grambling, Fobbs was a three-time SWAC Coach of the Year, led the Tigers to a 54-32 overall record, including two SWAC Championships, two Celebration Bowl appearances and a Black College Football National Championship. But after starting 3-7 in the fall of 2021, Grambling let him go prior to the Bayou Classic.

"It's amazing that someone who never had a losing season for something like to happen," Rollins said. "It's COVID. When you play a spring season, then six or seven weeks later you're getting ready for a fall season, you're playing 16 games in one calendar year with 63 scholarship players. It's tough with limited resources. It's tough on the players and the coaches. Then with the transfer portal hitting at the same time, you're losing some of your better guys and your depth."

With an opening to fill after last season (Tony Hull left to become Grambling's offensive coordinator), ULM found Fobbs, who spent last football season coaching at Ruston High School.

"Coach Bowden has done it all," Fobbs said. "He's been all over. When you've been where he's been and been a successful head coach in the SEC and all the other places, he's seen a lot. There are times I listen and hear things and put them in my toolbox. But he's really good about taking advice from us and putting it into the plan. At the end of the day, it's all about us getting to the goal together."

Prior to landing at ULM, Rollins made numerous coaching stops, including his stint as interim head coach at Southern. The Jaguars (4-7, 3-5 SWAC) finished third in the SWAC West Division and lost to Grambling in the 48th Annual Bayou Classic, 29-26.

Before Southern, Rollins worked at UTSA where he served as the defensive coordinator for two seasons and spent two years as associate head coach and linebackers coach.

He worked nine seasons as secondary coach at Tulane, including serving as co-defensive coordinator in 2015 and special teams coordinator in 2014.

Prior to Tulane, Rollins was co-defensive coordinator and secondary coach at his alma mater, McNeese State, for two seasons (2005-06).

Rollins began as an assistant coach for the defensive backs at McNeese State in 1997-98. He was an assistant coach in the Texas prep ranks at Galveston Ball (1999-2000) and La Marque (2001).

He spent three seasons (2002-04) as the defensive backs coach at Northwestern State.

An all-state and all-district performer at Newton (Texas) High School, Rollins played safety at McNeese State where he earned his bachelor's degree in health and human performance from MSU in 1996.

"It's been done here," Rollins said of ULM. "You've won a National Championship. You've won conference championships. You have a championship pedigree here. All we're working toward is to get back to where we were."
 
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