Henry Burris has received a promotion to assistant head coach after only one season at Florida A&M University. He will also serve as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.
The 49-year-old native of Spiro, Okla. joined the Rattlers as their co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in 2024. He reportedly took over playcalling duties midway through last season.
“Coach Burris did a fantastic job throughout the 2024 season and executed the offence the last couple of games the way I wanted to see the offence run,” said head coach James Colzie III in a statement. “It was an obvious choice to promote him to the offensive coordinator position and name him assistant head coach. He deserves it, and I’m excited about the 2025 offence moving forward.”
“We are blessed with two hands — one for hard work and the other for giving back,” said Burris. “My wife, Nicole, and our boys, Armand and Barron, are beyond excited to be part of the Florida A&M family. We are beyond excited about continuing our journey, playing a key role in impacting our student-athletes, and contributing to the championship culture that makes FAMU special. Let’s go to work! Go Rattlers!”
Burris got his first coaching role with the Chicago Bears in 2020 as a seasonal coaching assistant. He returned to the team in 2021 as an offensive quality control coach and was originally set to be an offensive consultant with the B.C. Lions in 2022 before reneging to become an offensive quality control coach with the Jacksonville Jaguars. In 2023, he coached the tight ends during training camp with the Los Angeles Rams.
The six-foot-one, 190-pound passer played 294 career regular-season CFL games with the Calgary Stampeders, Saskatchewan Roughriders, Hamilton Tiger-Cats, and Ottawa Redblacks. He threw for 63,639 yards, 373 touchdowns, and 227 interceptions and remains the third-leading passer in league history.
Burris was named the CFL’s Most Outstanding Player in 2010 and 2015 and was a first-ballot inductee into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 2020. He won three Grey Cups and two Grey Cup MVP awards.
Florida A&M competes at the FCS level of NCAA Division I in the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC). The team went 7-5 this past season, finishing second in the East Division under Jackon State. In 2023, the Rattlers went 12-1 under head coach Willie Simmons, who is now the head coach at Florida International University, winning the SWAC Championship Game over Prairie View A&M and the Celebration Bowl over Howard University.
