Willard Bailey

Willard Bailey (born June 3, 1939) is and currently serving as President of Central International College* in Virginia. When Coach Bailey retired in 2013, he was the winningest football coach in the history of Virginia at all levels. Today, that record has been eclipsed -- but Bailey is still the all-time winningest football coach in the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) -- the oldest Black football conference in the country. In his 40 years of coaching at four different schools, Bailey won a total of 238 games. Coach Bailey's former positions include athletic director, head football coach, as well as being a fully-tenured associate professor.

Coach Willard Bailey was Inducted into Black College Football Hall of Fame in 2021.

Coach Bailey became an assistant football coach at Virginia Union University in 1964 and took over as head coach of VUU's Panthers in 1971, setting a school-record 151 coaching wins between 1971-83 and 1995-2003. His distinguished service as head football coach includes Virginia Union University from 1971 to 1983 and again from 1995 to 2003, Norfolk State University from 1984 to 1992, Saint Paul's College in Lawrenceville, Virginia from 2005 to 2010, and Virginia University of Lynchburg from 2011 to 2013, compiling a career college football record of 238–169–7. As a coach in the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA), Bailey won seven conference championships, six with Virginia Union and one with Norfolk State. His Virginia Union Panther football teams made five straight appearances in the NCAA Division II football playoffs, from 1979 to 1983, while his Norfolk State Spartan football team made one appearance in the NCAA Division II football playoffs, in 1984.

These are but a few of the players from Bailey's Virginia Union Panthers, Norfolk State Spartans, and Saint Paul's Tiger teams who went on to the National Football League, the Canadian League or the Arena League:


 * Virginia Union:Herbert Scott, Malcolm Barnwell, Carl Bland, Pete Hunter, James Atkins.
 * Norfolk State: Willie Gillus, A. J. Jimerson
 * Saint Paul's: Greg Toler (the first player from the school to be drafted by the National Football League)

Bailey graduated from Norfolk State in 1962.

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 * Central International College is Accredited by the Association of Independent Christian Colleges and Seminaries and recognized by the State Council of Higher Education in Virginia.