Jackson State football does not currently have a stronghold on the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) the way it did while Deion Sanders was at the helm, but it still enjoyed another winning season and finished near the top of the league standings under first-year head coach T.C. Taylor. Though, there is a reality in which an NFL Hall of Famer could have been the one manning the sidelines for the Tigers.
Super Bowl 47 champion and legendary safety Ed Reed is pulling back the curtain and revealing that he was actually encouraged to fill the coaching vacancy left by Sanders last December- who is now working to rebuild Colorado. In fact, Prime Time himself was the one who advocated for such a move, according to Reed.
“I talked to him before that because he was like ‘I want you to go to Jackson State,”' the 2004 Defensive Player of the Year told The Pivot, via HBCU GameDay. “I want to give this to you and nobody else.”
Ed Reed could have realistically been named new Jackson State coach
Reed explained how he met with Jackson State's athletic director to discuss the job but ultimately choose fellow SWAC and HBCU program, Bethune-Cookman, instead. His reasoning is simple. The Tigers had already ascended to the next level financially and in terms of prominence (won consecutive conference titles from 2021-22), so why not build up the Wildcats.
Those grand ambitions did not materialize, however, as Bethune-Cookman decided not to ratify the head coaching contract in January. Ed Reed had previously gone on a social media rant about the state of the outdoor facilities and how his office was left uncleaned upon his arrival.
A hypothetical tenure with Jackson State football is interesting to ponder, but former Tigers star and assistant T.C. Taylor just did a notable job in 2023 after seeing so many players leave the University with Deion Sanders. Perhaps, Reed will get another opportunity somewhere else, and some time soon.
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