GRAMBLING, La. — Everyone deserves a second chance, right?
According to multiple media reports, former Cleveland Browns head coach Hue Jackson is set to be hired as the next head coach at Grambling State University. The school has scheduled a press conference for 10 a.m. Friday "to announce its new head football coach," and Football Scoop's John Brice was among the first to say it would indeed be the 56-year-old Jackson.
A native of Los Angeles, Jackson went 8-8 leading the Oakland Raiders in 2011 before a successful stint as offensive coordinator with the Cincinnati Bengals landed him the Browns' top coaching job in 2016. But his tenure in Cleveland was a complete disaster, with his 3-36-1 record being the worst among NFL coaches to coach at least 40 games with a team.
Jackson's term began with an infamous mark of 1-31, including the league's second-ever 0-16 season in 2017. While many of the problems could be laid at the feet of then-general manager Sashi Brown as well as ownership, Jackson was also maligned by fans and analysts for a seeming lack of accountability for the role he played in the collapse.
Despite protests (literally), Jackson was retained for the 2018 season, only to be fired halfway through along with offensive coordinator Todd Haley following a public feud. The Browns subsequently went 5-3 down the stretch after a 2-5-1 start, and two years later won their first playoff game in 26 years. For most Cleveland fans, this cemented Jackson's legacy as the worst coach in team history.
Other than a brief stint back in Cincinnati during the second half of 2018, Jackson has not landed an NFL job since, but this past season was hired as offensive coordinator at Tennessee State under new head coach Eddie George. He helped the Tigers to their best season in four years at 5-6, although they averaged less than 20 points a game.
Grambling is known nationally as having perhaps the greatest historically Black college or university football program in America, notably during the legendary Eddie Robinson's 56 seasons when they won 408 games and boasted four eventual Pro Football Hall of Famers. Broderick Fobbs won 54 contests and two Southwestern Athletic Conference championships from 2014-21, but was fired last month following a lackluster 3-7 campaign.
Besides Tennessee State, this would not be Jackson's first foray into the college coaching ranks: Decades ago, he served as an assistant at Pacific, Cal State Fullerton, and Arizona State before becoming offensive coordinator at California in 1996 and then USC from 1997-2000.
