Taylor Named “Coach of the Year”

SMC head football coach Robert Taylor has been named “Coach of the Year” by the Western States Conference Southern Division.

The award comes on the heels of the SMC Corsair football team’s Western States Conference Southern Division Championship, earning them a berth in the U.S. Bank Beach Bowl Nov. 22.Taylor is the first African American head coach to win a division football championship in the Western States Football Conference.

The award marks a poignant note for Taylor, who lost both his wife Rae-Chelle and his mother Beulah earlier this year.

“After my mom and wife passed away, I didn’t know if would be able to coach this season,” Taylor said. “But football helped me get through this, and the players and staff have been incredible. I’m ecstatic to have won this championship and this honor.”

Taylor, of West Los Angeles, has been on the Corsair coaching staff since 1984 and was named head coach in 1994. He has won more than half his games and, since being named head coach, steered his team to three bowl games. The Corsairs defeated El Camino College 71-67 in the 1998 South Bay Classic, garnering them a national scoring title for a bowl game, and they played in the inaugural U.S. Bank Beach Bowl in 2000, beating Citrus College.