Florida A&M AD Tiffani-Dawn Sykes out amid senior leadership shakeup. Here's her legacy.

Florida A&M is seeking a new Vice President and Director of Intercollegiate Athletics.

In an email obtained by the Tallahassee Democrat, FAMU VP/AD Tiffani-Dawn Sykes told the FAMU Athletics staff that she’s no longer employed at the university, effectively immediately.

“The purpose of this communication is to let you know that effectively immediately, I am no longer employed at FAMU,” Sykes wrote. “Best of luck to each of you.”

Sykes, who scrubbed her X bio of any mention of FAMU, has been at the Historically Black College and University since January 2023. She was the program’s 10th athletic director, including interims and permanents, since 2009.

After the email, Sykes posted a new profile picture wearing a shirt that says, “Girls don’t cry.”

Sykes added that the FAMU Athletics staff should direct any questions or concerns to Assistant Vice President for Athletics Administration Michael Smith until Beard says otherwise.

Sykes' departure occurred after FAMU interim president Dr. Timothy Beard called on the university’s top leadership team to resign. What could be a sweeping change in university leadership comes as the university continues to deal with the fallout from a “fraudulent” $237 million donation that attracted national attention to the highest-ranked public HBCU.

No announcement has been made on who will be the interim athletic director. However, Smith has served in that position three times.

Sykes departs 11 days before FAMU football opens its 2024 football season at the MEAC/SWAC Challenge against Norfolk State in Atlanta.

A look at former FAMU Vice President, Director of Athletics Tiffani-Dawn Sykes' tenure

Sykes was hired to lead FAMU’s athletic program in October 2022 and officially began on Jan. 4, 2023. She replaced Kortne Gosha, who resigned from FAMU in April of 2022.

Experienced in compliance, Sykes inherited a FAMU athletics program fresh off an NCAA certification snafu that left 26 FAMU football players sidelined from the Rattlers’ season-opening football game at the North Carolina Tar Heels in 2022. FAMU has since bolstered its once short-staffed compliance staff.

During Sykes’ tenure, FAMU saw the most perfect Academic Progress Rate scores in a single academic year. Six athletic teams (baseball, women’s basketball, bowling, tennis, volleyball, golf) earned a perfect 1,000 for the 2022-23 academic year. FAMU football’s APR score significantly raised from 901 to 950.

Sykes’ tenure has also come with its share of turmoil, such as her handling of January’s football coach hiring process that led to votes of no confidence by the FAMU National Alumni Association.

Sykes reportedly planned to hire Division II HBCU Fort Valley State head coach Shawn Gibbs to replace Willie Simmons, who left FAMU after six seasons and two claimed Black College National Championships in 2019 and 2023. However, pushback by the FAMU Board of Trustees, FAMU stakeholders, and Rattlers football players led to the promotion of FAMU assistant coach James Colzie III with the help of an assembled search committee and Renaissance Search and Consulting.

She also joined other university leaders in signing a non-disclosure agreement with the Texas hemp farmer, who investigators say hoodwinked the university with a fraudulent $237 million donation.

More recently, the FAMU Board of Trustees was also at odds over Sykes hiring a new men’s basketball coach, Patrick Crarey II.

Crarey originally signed a three-year contract worth $450,000 ($150,000 annually) to coach the Rattlers but was downgraded to a one-year deal after the FAMU Board of Trustees questioned his capabilities, coming from a four-year catholic school and NAIA member St. Thomas University in Miami Gardens.

With Sykes in office, FAMU has won SWAC Championships in tennis, baseball, women’s cross country, football, and women’s indoor track and field. FAMU football and golf also won national championships during the 2023-2024 athletic year.

Just weeks ago, Sykes was named Women Leaders in Sports Nike Division I FCS Executive of the Year for the 2023-2024 season.

Gerald Thomas, III covers Florida A&M University Athletics for the Tallahassee Democrat. Contact him via email at [email protected] or on the app formerly known as Twitter @3peatgee.

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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Athletics director Tiffani-Dawn Sykes 'no longer employed' by FAMU