Morehouse College is in negotiations to make a splash hire, bringing in Hue Jackson as the next head football coach at the institution. The story was first broken by prominent media personality Scottay of Offscript TV and several other HBCU sports outlets such as HBCU Legends have also acquired sourcing about the talks between the coaching veteran and the renowned HBCU that has struggled in Football over the past three decades.
Hue Jackson previously served as the head coach of Grambling, joining the program in December 2021 after the departure of former head coach Broderick Fobbs. According to HBCU Sports, Jackson signed a four-year, $1.6 million deal, earning $400,000 per year. Prior to his time at Grambling, he was the offensive coordinator for Eddie George at Tennessee State.
During Jackson's tenure, Grambling achieved a record of 8-14, with the 2023 season concluding in a loss to Southern University in the 50th Annual Bayou Classic. Throughout the season, Grambling demonstrated improvement on the field, showcasing a high-powered offense led by quarterback Myles Crawley, a transfer from Alabama State. The team had a close and high-scoring match against Hampton in the Brick City Classic, and despite ultimately losing, they put up a commendable performance against SEC powerhouse LSU, with a final score of 72-10.
He alluded to a desire to return to coaching in an exclusive interview with Scottay of Offscript back in November.
“I want to coach football. I think I know how to do it at a high level. I've watched coaches grow; I've watched players grow, and I know how to facilitate that. It's what God has given me the ability to do, so I'm going to keep doing it until I can't.”
Meanwhile, Morehouse ended the 2023 season with a 1-9 record with their sole victory coming over in-city rival Clark Atlanta University. The team was coached by Gerard Wilcher, a Morehouse football alumnus who was fired following the end of the season. His ouster was the subject of controversy towards the end of the season, as he alluded in a statement posted to social media that behind-the-scenes issues precluded him from properly building up the team.
“Please know that I tried every day to uplift my beloved Morehouse,” he said in the statement. “Statistically, we improved in almost every category. We played a challenging schedule with only 2 home games and even though we asked numerous times, we were not given the resources to have a strength and conditioning program. I was hired after the recruiting season and had no recruiting budget. However, the College has made the decision to no longer retain me rather than give us the support and resources we need in order to be successful.”
In an interview with HBCU Gameday, he also boldly stated that he had no intentions of quitting and that if he was no longer with the program following the end of the season, he was fired.
“I'm not leaving, and I refuse to resign. I will make them publicly fire me, if they want out. I know there are some people that aren't happy that we haven't been able to get it done, but I have not even been approached about leaving,” he said in quotes obtained by HBCU Gameday on October 30th.
If hired, Hue Jackson would be tasked with rebuilding a Morehouse College program that is one of the founding members of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC). Morehouse has seen football success in its history but has struggled to field a competitive program over the past three decades. They've had eleven winning seasons since 2000, including an NCAA Division II playoff birth in 2010 under head coach Rich Freeman.
However, the team has had successive 1-9 finishes over the past two seasons and has never been able to fully turn the corner into a perennial contender, having last won the title of SIAC Champion in 1991. The title was shared alongside Alabama A&M, Clark Atlanta, Tuskegee, and Fort Valley State.
Follow Us
Subscribe