CLEVELAND -- Long before Cleveland Browns coach Hue Jackson and Oakland Raiders coach Jon Gruden were peers in the National Football League, they were assistants together at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California.
In 1989, Jackson was the running backs/special-teams coach at his alma mater while Gruden mentored the tight ends. And Jackson says he learned a lot from Gruden, two years his elder, during their lone season together.
“We used to be officemates,” Jackson recalled. “He taught me football. We used to argue every day. I know him extremely well. He is extremely competitive, and he does not like losing, no more than I did not like losing. Trust me, he is going to get his football team ready to go. We have to be ready to play.”
At the time, Jackson was only in his third year of coaching at the University of the Pacific when he worked alongside Gruden after completing a two-year run as the Tigers’ quarterback. A letterman in both football and basketball at Pacific, Jackson relished the opportunity to learn from Gruden.
“I was a wishbone quarterback at the time,” Jackson said. “I have always given Jon a lot of credit for where I am today because he helped mold me and shape me into the coach that I am a little bit. There are a lot of things that I took. At the same time, this weekend, I am trying to beat him.”
After their one season together at Pacific, Gruden went on to be an assistant coach with the San Francisco 49ers, University of Pittsburgh, Green Bay Packers and Philadelphia Eagles before starting his first stint as head coach of the Raiders in 1998.
When Gruden took over the Raiders, Jackson was the offensive coordinator at the University of Southern California, which he parlayed into a coaching career at the professional ranks, first with the Washington football team before making his way to the Cincinnati Bengals, Atlanta Falcons, Baltimore Ravens, Raiders and now, the Browns.
“Jon tried to hire me when he was first at the Raiders, and I decided to stay at USC,” Jackson said. “We have history, a relationship. Obviously, I worked with his brother (Washington’s Jay Gruden), as well, through my travels through the National Football League. I know the Gruden family well. Obviously, the guy is a tremendous football coach.”
Although the Raiders have an 0-3 record and are in last place in the AFC West Division, Jackson knows better than to let the Browns (1-1-1) underestimate Gruden’s ability to lead a team, and expects a hard-fought game from the opening kickoff until the final play is run at the Oakland-Alameda Coliseum Sunday.
“When we watch them on tape, it does not say that they are an 0-3 football team,” Jackson said. “Their offense has moved up and down the field on everybody. Their defense has slowed everybody down. Their offense has scored either a touchdown or field goal every first drive of the game. Their defense has gotten teams off of the field on the first drive of the games.
“This is going to be a tremendous challenge for us. Going into ‘The Black Hole,’ a place that I am familiar with. Our guys are going to have to play their tails off. We have to get ready. We have to practice well. We have to stay focused and go play a good football game.”
Stream Live with fuboTV -Try Free Trial
