Associate Athletic Director Alvin Hollins, 53, a 30-year athletic department employee, was forced to resign Friday by President James Ammons.
Hollins’ resignation was part of a major shakeup of the athletic department Friday, which included the resignation of Athletic Director Bill Hayes and the ouster of Associate Athletic Director Robert McBee.
University Public Information Officer Sharon Saunders informed Hollins Thursday that Ammons was giving him an ultimatum to either resign or receive a letter of termination. McBee was given a similar ultimatum by the president Thursday.
Saunders would not comment on the matter Friday, but instead referred inquiries to the FAMU attorney’s office.
“I am not at liberty to discuss employee processes at this time,” said Saunders:
Linzie Bogan, who handles labor and employee issues for the university attorney’s office, said Friday he was also not at liberty to discuss employee processes.
Hollins chose to resign, which he made official Friday evening. It was unclear as of Sunday evening whether McBee chose to resign or accept the letter of termination. Attempts to reach McBee Saturday and Sunday were unsuccessful.
Hayes’ resignation means that FAMU will be searching for its fifth athletic director in seven years.
Hollins will continue to perform his duties until Dec. 28. Hayes’ last day will be Dec. 31.
“I’ll work these last three months, then I guess I’ll find something else to do, find some other employment,” Hollins said with a shrug.
Vaughn Wilson, director of photography at the Capital Outlook, has been appointed by Ammons to oversee the athletic department, which includes current Sports Information Director Ronnie Johnson.
Wilson has no previous experience working in sports information, but his father Roosevelt Wilson was a former sports information director and athletic director FAMU.
“[Wilson] is a former football player at FAMU, he has his own graphic design and consulting business so he has some knowledge of journalism and of sports,” Hollins said. “I’m not really sure if it is interim or temporary. I’m not really clear. But I know that [Wilson] is supposed to come in and I guess we’ll sit down and start talking about what we do here.”
Hollins said he was told the reason for his ousting was the president’s desire to move in a different direction regarding the athletic department.
“In one sense of the word, really, nobody has any job security, even people that do well,” Hollins said. “Management has that right, they have that privilege; they’re the ones running the university.
“I’m disappointed but the administration has decided they want to move in a different direction, It’s a shock in the sense that there wasn’t any warning. There was nothing saying like ‘poor job performance’ or ‘hey if you don’t improve this.’ There was nothing, no indication that this was coming.”