01/18/2022
BTW Alumnus and former Virginia Union University football coach Willard Bailey has been selected for induction into the Black College Football Hall of Fame.
Coach Willard Bailey won more games than any football coach in Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) history. A native of Suffolk, VA, he graduated with honors from Norfolk State University (1962) where he was a four-year letterman at offensive guard and linebacker.
He later received a Master’s in Education and Athletic Administration from New York University. Coach Bailey began his coaching career as a basketball, baseball, and track and field coach at Essex County High School in Tappahannock, VA. In 1963 and 1964, his basketball teams won back-to-back VIA Group II, District 7 Tournament Championships. His college coaching career began in 1964 at Virginia Union University (VUU) as an assistant football coach.
In 1971 he was appointed head football coach at VUU, a position he held for 13 years. Coach Bailey was the head coach at Norfolk State University from 1984 to 1992 then returned to VUU from 1995 to 2003. He completed his collegiate coaching career at St. Paul’s College (2005 to 2010) and Virginia College in Lynchburg (2011 to 2013). He compiled and overall record of 238 wins, 168 losses and seven ties. Coach Bailey’s teams won seven CIAA football championships and made six NCAA Division II playoff appearances, including five consecutive appearances from 1979 to 1983. More than 17 of his athletes played in the National Football League or the Canadian Football League. Coach Bailey’s honors include induction into the CIAA Hall of Fame (2004), honored as Humanitarian of the Year by the Virginia Conference for Community and Justice (2006) and induction into the VUU Athletic Hall of Fame (2008).
