​Florida A&M is currently serving NCAA Level-Two sanctions for the 2026 season due to unsatisfactory Academic Progress Rate (APR) scores. That isn’t a novel storyline for the Rattlers on The Highest of Seven Hills. Since the APR’s formal introduction in 2004, this real-time gauge of players’ progress toward graduation has repeatedly stung the Rattler football program. FAMU has only exceeded the required 930 single-year APR score twice—during the 2008-2009 and the 2018-2019 academic years—and has faced APR-related postseason bans on four occasions. The latest APR figure publicly reported for FAMU was a 918 in the 2024-2025 academic year, still below the target but an improvement from a 901 in the 2023-2024 season, a year in which the Rattlers captured the SWAC Championship and the Celebration Bowl.
On the field in the spring game, the Rattlers’ quarterback Armond Parker warmed up for the Friday Night Strike at the Orange and Green Spring Football Game held on Ken Riley Field at Bragg Memorial Stadium in Tallahassee. The backdrop of this period reflects a program striving to align academic accountability with competitive performance.
With support from the Southwestern Athletic Conference, however, the APR challenge for Florida A&M could become less burdensome. The conference’s leadership has signaled a commitment to strengthening FAMU’s academic infrastructure for student-athletes. SWAC Commissioner Charles McClelland spoke candidly during the SWAC Football Media Day Kickoff on Wednesday, July 15, noting, “Florida A&M has some APR problems.” He added that the conference had provided a grant to the university to hire additional personnel focused on academic oversight.
In June, FAMU announced the appointment of Reginald Thomas as Associate Vice President for Athletics and Academic Excellence. Thomas, who previously served at the SWAC’s Birmingham, Alabama headquarters since 2021 as the Associate Commissioner for Administration, brings a robust mix of compliance, student-support, and administrative experience. The former Clark-Atlanta University standout and long-time Black college football coach has prior experience at HBCUs in Florida, including Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach, where he held roles such as Assistant Athletic Director for Compliance Services and later Senior Associate Director of Athletics for Student Support Services, earning staff member of the year honors during his tenure.
“Florida A&M’s compliance team had some changes,” McClelland quipped regarding Thomas’s arrival, “but with the resources we have, those issues are going to be resolved at Florida A&M.” McClelland’s optimism reflects a broader belief that FAMU’s move to the SWAC in 2021, after a longstanding tenure in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, positions the Rattlers as a pillar program within the conference. When FAMU is in good standing and contending for championships, it strengthens the SWAC’s reputation and competitiveness.
Overall, the path forward for Florida A&M centers on institutional improvement—hiring qualified staff, reinforcing academic support structures, and maintaining a culture of accountability that translates into both classroom success and on-field achievement. The SWAC’s involvement signals a collaborative effort to help FAMU meet and sustain APR standards, which would allow the program to focus more fully on athletic performance and conference contention in the years ahead.