Hue Jackson, who was fired as the Grambling State head coach Tuesday after the team’s 5-6 season, said he thanked the administration “for the opportunity to coach at such a historic university” but also expressed that he should have been given more than two seasons to establish the program.
In a YouTube interview with Offscript on Tuesday night, Jackson — in referencing Grambling and HBCUs — said football programs couldn’t realistically prosper without adequate funding and infrastructure in place to support student-athletes.
‘The lack of transparency, coordination, and collaboration will continue, in my opinion, to plague the HBCUs,” he said. “We all know those things are issues and have to be dealt with.”
Jackson, who was named head coach in December 2021, agreed to a four-year $1.6 million contract that paid him an annual salary of $400,000. However, only the first two years of Jackson’s contract are guaranteed. Grambling will pay the remaining portion of Jackson’s second-year salary over the current fiscal year.
Jackson replaced former head coach Broderick Fobbs, who Grambling fired after eight seasons at the helm.
“At the end of the day, people will only focus on the wins and losses, but I know for a fact … we were turning that program back into the monster that we all wanted it to be,” said Jackson. “But that takes time.”
Despite Jackson’s optimism, he finished his tenure at Grambling with an 8-14 overall record and a 6-10 mark in the season, with notable consecutive losses to rival Southern in the Bayou Classic.
When asked how much time should he have received considering the state of the program when he took over, Jackson said he should been given at least three seasons.
“You have to give it three years when you come in the first year. You don’t want to walk in and run all the players at it,” said Jackson. “I’m not just talking about Grambling but about any place. You need to make sure you understand the lay of the land. And I would have felt though it was warranted (to be fired) if this year looked like the first year.
“This year, you can see the turning of the program, the culture was starting to change. The wins came a little bit more. You can see that the building blocks were there, and next year’s team, to me, with everybody returning, it was going to be the best offense in the conference and one of the better defenses in the conference. It was really going to take off.”
Jackson, who had stints for years in college and the NFL, said he wasn’t given an explanation by the Grambling administration why he was fired.
“They probably didn’t think the progress was happening fast enough. They are going to make their choices and decisions,” he said. “You’re not going to fight those things. That is their decision.”
Jackson said he would like to coach again anywhere, including at an HBCU, if given another shot.
“This is what I do,” he said.
