Reginald Ruffin just completed one of the most successful decades in the history of Miles College and the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. In nine seasons at the helm of the Golden Bears, Ruffin has led the program to four SIAC championships as well as an additional SIAC Championship game appearance. The school has also made two NCAA postseason appearances. Over nine seasons, Ruffin has won more than 60 percent of his games, going 59-39 overall, and has been named SIAC Coach of the Year three times. Ruffin also is in his fourth year as athletic director for Miles.Â
In 2019, Miles became the first team to win consecutive SIAC titles since the league went to a divisional format in 2011. The Golden Bears went 9-3 overall, 5-1 in the SIAC Western Division, and won the league championship with a wire-to-wire 21-6 win over Albany State. The nine wins tied the school record for victories in a single season and the team netted its second-ever trip to the NCAA Division II playoffs. He earned his third SIAC Coach of the Year award.
Miles also won the SIAC title in 2018 with a 50-23 win over Albany State. The Golden Bears started the season with five consecutive losses but finished 5-6 overall, 4-2 in the SIAC Western Division. Miles may have played one of the most exciting schedules in team annuls, with seven games decided on the final possession, six of them on scores inside the final minute, and three with scores on the final play of the game. Three student-athletes were names All-SIAC, with linebacker Austin Stephens earning SIAC Defensive Player of the Year honors along with multiple All-America honors.
Miles went 6-4 in 2017 and spent several weeks ranked among the best teams in Super Region 2. His team placed nine players on the All-SIAC Team, including Most Valuable Player Justin Hardy, and six players on the All-Super Region team, including Freshman of the Year Marquel Shelton.
In 2016, Miles went 5-5, while also going 2-2 in conference play for a third-place finish in the SIAC West Division. The Golden Bears had one of the top defenses in the country, ranking 14th nationally in yards per game allowed and second in defensive touchdowns. In 2015, Miles went 7-5 overall and 5-0 in West Division play. A six-game win streak culminated with a 20-7 win over Albany State to secure the SIAC title. Ruffin earned SIAC Coach of the Year honors as nine players earned All-Conference selections while two were named All-Americans.
In 2014, Miles went 6-4 overall and 4-2 in the SIAC Western Division, which followed a 2013 campaign that saw Ruffin led the Golden Bears to a second SIAC Championship appearance in three years. In 2011, Ruffin’s first season, he led the Golden Bears to their first Division II SIAC Championship and was named SIAC Coach of the Year by his peers.  The 2012 season brought a second place finish in the SIAC Western Division but Ruffin led Miles to its first berth in the NCAA Division II Playoffs, finishing 8-3 overall.
Ruffin has continued to burgeon his reputation as a winner at Miles. Prior to his stint with the Golden Bears, he spent five seasons at Tuskegee as their defensive coordinator and linebacker coach. As the defensive coordinator at Tuskegee, coach Ruffin had the SIAC (Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference) top scoring defense, pass defense and rushing defense in 2007. His team’s defense finished second in scoring and among the leaders in most defensive categories in 2008 and posted the league’s top defense in 2009.
Ruffin also spent two seasons at Tuskegee in 2002-03. Prior to his first stint with the Golden Tigers, he served as athletic director and head football coach at Choctaw County High School in Butler, Alabama. Other stops included times at West Georgia, his, alma mater, North Alabama, and Jackson High School in Jackson, Alabama.
Coach Ruffin is a 1998 graduate of the University of North Alabama and holds a Master’s degree in Education Administration from Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. During his playing days at the UNA, he became the Lions’ second three-time All-American and is the only Lion to be named All-America at two different positions: as a defensive end in 1995 and 1996, and as a linebacker in 1997. A four-year starter, he established a school record with 34 career sacks and the school single-season sack record with 11 in 1994. The Lions went 43-9 during his career and won two Division II National Championships. In 2020, he was inducted into the UNA Athletic Hall of Fame.
In 1994, Ruffin was selected Gulf South Conference Freshman of the Year. In 1995, he was selected first-team All-Gulf South Conference, first-team CoSIDA NCAA Division II All-South Region, third-team CoSIDA NCAA Division II All- American, third-team C. M. Frank All-American and honorable mention Football Gazette All-American in 1996. Ruffin was selected second-team All-American in 1996 by the Associated Press, CoSIDA and Football Gazette, as well as All-Gulf South Conference and first-team CoSIDA All- South Region. In 1997, he was selected first-team All-American by the Associated Press, Football Gazette, American Football Coaches Association and second-team All-American pick by Daktronics as a linebacker.
Ruffin is the father of one son, Gabriel.
