A bona fide legend in Itta Bena and throughout the Mississippi Delta, Willie “Satellite” Totten returns to his alma mater as Mississippi Valley State’s Assistant Head Coach, working with the quarterbacks.
One half of the notorious Satellite Express, Totten and his top receiver Jerry Rice rewrote the passing record books in the 1980’s. Hailing from just up the road outside Greenwood, he completed 13,128 yards of passing with 141 career touchdowns. Relentless through the air thanks to the strategy of coach Archie “Gunslinger” Cooley, he completed 368 of 593 attempts as a junior when 58 touchdowns. All these figures still stand as records for MVSU, as does the nine wins the Delta Devils earned in 1984.
He finished his college career with over 50 NCAA records, earning four straight All-American honors and four First-Team All-SWAC selections.
Upon graduation in 1986, Willie enjoyed a pro career for several years. He debuted as a starting quarterback during the NFL strike of 1987, starting two games in place of Jim Kelly with the Buffalo Bills. Totten also played two seasons in Canada between the BC Lions and Toronto Argonauts, and three seasons in the Arena Football League - playing for the Chicago Bruisers, Pittsburgh Gladiators, and New Orleans Night.
He obtained a master’s degree at Grambling State in 1989, but returned to Itta Bena in 1990 as an assistant, and was promoted to offensive coordinator in 1996. After seven seasons plus two more as coach of Eastside High in nearby Cleveland, he returned as offensive coordinator in 2000.
Two years later, in 2002, he became the 14th head coach for Delta Devil football. In his first season, he turned the squad around from a winless campaign the year before to a 5-6 record. Over seven seasons, Totten finished with a record of 31-57, which included two 6-5 records in 2005 and 2006 - the last winning seasons for Valley.
Magnolia Field was rechristened as Rice-Totten Stadium in 1999, and so Totten became one of a handful of coaches to preside in a stadium named after him. This list includes Bear Bryant of Alabama, LaVell Edwards of BYU, Bill Synder of Kansas State and Eddie Robinson of Grambling State.
After a four year hiatus from coaching as an administrator, he returned to the field as a quarterbacks coach for Albany State in 2013. The next five years were spent in Huntsville against SWAC rival Alabama A&M, working under coaches James Spady and Connell Maynor. The Bulldogs steadily improved, culminating in a 6-5 season last autumn.
He was inducted into the Mississippi Valley State Athletics Hall of Fame alongside Rice and a host of additional Valley football stars in 2006.
