Four HBCU coaching legends land on College Football Hall of Fame ballot

Four of the most accomplished HBCU coaches in college football history are now in the same national lane as the sport’s biggest names, and the ballot itself shows how hard it is to get there. Gideon Smith, Bill Hayes, Eddie Hurt and Rod Broadway were named to the 2027 College Football Hall of Fame ballot when the National Football Foundation released its pool on June 1. The Hall says only 0.02% of all college football players and coaches have been inducted, a reminder that even legendary résumés still have to clear an exceptionally narrow gate.

The ballot is large but selective, with 80 FBS players and nine FBS coaches alongside 99 divisional and NAIA players and 39 coaches. Membership voting runs through July 1, and the final class of 2027 will be chosen by the Honors Court, chaired by Archie Griffin. In that context, the presence of four HBCU coaching icons is more than ceremonial. It places their work against the same measuring stick used for the game’s most decorated figures.

Smith’s case reaches back to the roots of Black college football. Hampton says he coached there for two decades, finished with a 97-46-12 record, and led the program to its first Black college national championship in 1922. Hayes built a more modern bridge between HBCU dominance and broader national relevance, winning three CIAA titles at Winston-Salem State and three MEAC titles at North Carolina A&T. The CIAA also credits him with two NCAA Division I-AA playoff appearances at A&T, the kind of postseason marker that has long helped separate good coaches from Hall of Fame candidates.

Hurt’s résumé is the most imposing in raw dominance. Morgan State says he guided the Bears to 14 straight CIAA championships, 54 consecutive wins from 1931 to 1938, and six Black national championships. That is the sort of sustained control that would demand attention in any era, in any conference, under any Hall standard.

Broadway gives the ballot a more recent link to the modern game. North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame materials describe him as a 39-year coach, 15 of them as a head coach, and the only coach to win Black college national championships at three different schools: North Carolina Central, Grambling State and North Carolina A&T. He also led North Carolina Central to CIAA championships in 2005 and finished 33-11 in four seasons there.

Taken together, the four names do more than fill out a ballot. They force a bigger question about how college football remembers its history, and whether HBCU coaching greatness is finally being judged on equal footing or still being treated like overdue catch-up.