VUU Coach Palmer joins Grambling Tiger Staff

On February 5, 2004, the National Signing Day for football high school seniors, former Assistant Head Coach of Football Operations at Virginia Union University, Luther Palmer, signed on as the new Defensive Line Coach for Doug Williams and the Grambling Tigers football program. Coach Palmer first caught Doug Williams’ eye when they coached together at the Black College All-Star Game in 1995 held in Birmingham, Ala. “I’ve known Luther for about 10 years. He’s an old pro, a veteran,” The GSU head coach said. “When I had to put a staff together for the game, I picked him to be my defensive coordinator. Luther did a good job there, in a short amount of time.”

Palmer, a longtime Virginia Union assistant, played football there for the legendary “tricky Tom Harris and Willard Bailey. Palmer was Bailey’s first All-American at tight end, and player in the first Black College All-Star Game in 1972 at the Astrodome in Houston, Texas. He was drafted into the NFL that same year by the Los Angles Rams- and later spent time with the Chargers, Patriots, Steelers, and Bears. Palmer has also done internships in the NFL with the Dallas Cowboys (4), the Minnesota Vikings, New Orleans Saints, and the Oakland Raiders.

Besides coaching on both sides of the football as both an Offensive and Defensive Coordinator at Virginia Union University and Norfolk State, Palmer also was Defensive Coordinator at Howard and Bethune-Cookman. “He has the historically black college experience,” Doug Williams said. “When you know you don’t have everything you need to work with, Luther has long understood how to adjust. Now, he has comes to Grambling. He’s never had near what he now has to work with here.”

Virginia Union’s Coach Palmer becomes the third CIAA coach to jump ship to the SWAC after the 2003 season. Both Bowie State’s Head Football Coach Henry Frazier (Prairie-View), and Defensive Coordinator Steve Wilson (Texas Southern), snatched up head coaching positions, taking that CIAA “flavor” with them to the SWAC!