Interview with Florida A&M University Head Men’s Basketball Coach Robert McCullum


Robert McCullum was named the head men’s basketball coach at Florida A&M University in May 2017.

McCullum, a Birmingham, Alabama native, has led the Rattlers to a winning conference record in 2018, the Rattlers first winning record in MEAC play since the 2006-2007 season.

McCullum got his start in coaching in the high school ranks before taking his first collegiate coaching job at South Alabama in 1983.

After a one-year stint with the Jaguars, McCullum moved on to Samford for the 1984 season, before returning to South Alabama, where he stayed as an assistant until 1987.

He then joined the staff at Southern Illinois from 1988-1989, before becoming an assistant coach under Lon Kruger at Kansas State in 1990. McCullum followed Kruger to the University of Florida where he was an assistant from 1991-1996, and once more worked under Kruger at Illinois from 1996-2000.

In 2000, McCullum was named the head coach at Western Michigan where he remained for three seasons. In 2003, he led the Broncos to a 20-win season and an NIT berth.

McCullum was hired as the head men’s basketball coach at the University of South Florida on April 18, 2003. He spent four seasons with Bulls.

After South Florida, McCullum coached the Nigerian Men’s National Basketball Team, where he led the team to a 4-1 record at the 2007 All-Africa Games. McCullum joined the staff at San Francisco for one season in 2007, before moving on to be an assistant coach at the University of Central Florida in 2009.

In 2010, McCullum became an assistant coach for the Georgia Tech men’s basketball team and then he became an assistant for the Guangzhou Long-Lions of the Chinese Basketball Association in 2011. In addition, McCullumalso was an assistant coach at the University of Oregon from 2014-2017.

McCullum earned a bachelor’s degree at Birmingham Southern College in 1976 and a master’s degree from Alabama State in 1980. He played two seasons at Seminole Community College in Sanford, Fla., where he was the team captain as a sophomore and earned his associate’s degree in 1974.

McCullum and his wife Cheryl have two children, Richelle and Rashid.