JSU Hall of Fame Coach, Former AD Jim Fuller Passes Away 9/1/2021 | Football  Jim Fuller, a former Hall of Fame football coach and athletics director at Jacksonville State, passed away on Wednesday at the age of 76. Fuller served as the Gamecocks' head football coach from 1977-83 after serving as an assistant coach at JSU from 1970-73 and again from 1975-76. He is the fifth-winningest coach in JSU football history, compiling a 54-25 mark in his seven-year career. His 1977 team posted an 11-3 record, won the Gulf South Conference championship, claimed the Grantland Rice Bowl with a 31-7 televised victory over North Dakota State, and played for the NCAA Division II National Championship, finishing runner-up to Lehigh in the Pioneer Bowl. "Coach Fuller knew what being a JSU Gamecock was all about. So when he came back, he hit the ground ready to take over as Athletic Director," said Dr. William A. Meehan, former JSU President who hired Fuller as AD in 2003. "Jim had a solid base of support in the JSU community having been head football coach. So many alumni, fans, and former players were there to cheer him on as he led our teams into a new conference. Jim was a great asset because he knew what being Division I was all about. "I always enjoyed my relationship with Jim both as my AD and as my friend. There was rarely a day that we did not talk. He was an asset for JSU and did a great job! I feel, with his passing, we have lost a piece of JSU."  Fuller coached Gamecock football teams to four GSC championships and made five appearances in the NCAA Division II playoffs. Prior to his stint as head coach with the Gamecocks, he took over as offensive coordinator in 1975 under Clarkie Mayfield before being elevated to the head coaching spot in 1977.  He was named the Gulf South Conference Coach of the Year three times and was named the Regional Coach of the Year twice. "We are saddened to learn of the passing of Coach Jim Fuller," JSU Athletics Director Greg Seitz said. "He was instrumental in several conference championships during his time at Jacksonville State, both as a coach and as an administrator. He was a true Gamecock that was loved by so many in our community, alumni and fan base. He will be sorely missed." Fuller left JSU after the 1983 season to return to his alma mater, Alabama, where he coached until retirement from the sidelines in 2003. He was on the staff of the '92 Crimson Tide Team that claimed the national crown. He was inducted into the JSU Athletics Hall of Fame in 1998, but his career with the Gamecocks wasn't done. He was hired to lead the Gamecocks' 16 varsity sports as Athletics Director in 2003 and held that position until his retirement in 2008.  He took over as the Gamecocks entered the Ohio Valley Conference and led the Gamecocks to 31 Ohio Valley Conference titles and two OVC Women's All-Sports Trophies during his five-year tenure as the JSU Athletics Director. The 31 titles were the most by a JSU athletics department in a five-year span to that point and was 14 more than the closest OVC school during that same time frame. But more impressive was the success in the classroom, where over 450 student-athletes were named to the OVC Commissioner's Honor Roll and more than 600 student-athletes maintained a 3.0 grade point average during his leadership. Fuller, a native of Birmingham, was an offensive tackle for head coach Bear Bryant at Alabama from 1964-66, leading the Crimson Tide to a National Championship in 1964.