A former All-Pro’s stint as head coach of an HBCU is over after three years.
Prairie View A&M announced this week that they have decided not to renew the contract of Bubba McDowell, who had been their head football coach since 2022. Assistant head coach Ashton Green is taking over as interim coach while the team searches for a new head coach, the release added.
McDowell, 58, was a former All-Pro safety in the NFL, playing for the then-Houston Oilers and the Carolina Panthers from 1989-95. He was also on the University of Miami team that won the national championship in 1987.
After retiring, McDowell joined the coaching staff of Prairie View A&M, an HBCU located in Prairie View, Tex., in 2012. He began as a defensive backs coach before rising to assistant head coach in 2019 and then to head coach in 2022. Though McDowell led the team to two back-to-back SWAC West Division titles, a 5-7 finish to the 2024 campaign has ultimately sealed his fate. But at least his stint was more far successful than this fellow All-Pro safety’s HBCU coaching run was.
