Before becoming a head coach, his tenure as an assistant coach included a year at Maryland in 1971, making him the first African-American coach in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Joe later was a successful college head coach for 33 seasons. He coached at Cheyney University of Pennsylvania from 1972 to 1978, Central State University from 1981 to 1993, Florida A&M University from 1994 to 2004, and Miles College from 2008 to 2010. Joe achieved his greatest success at Central State, where his teams won
two NAIA National Football Championships, in 1990 and 1992, and made many appearances in the NAIA football playoffs during the 1980s and 1990s. He teams at Florida A&M have made various appearances in the Division I-AA (now FCS) playoffs during the 1990s and early 2000s.[2]
After a two-season absence as a coach, Joe was named head football coach at Miles College, an
NCAA Division II school in Fairfield, Alabama on December 12, 2007. He resigned in October 2010, citing poor health.
Assistant coach Patrick Peasant took over the team on an interim basis.[3]