Former Browns Coach Hue Jackson Lands Grambling State Job

The former Browns and Raiders coach made his return to college football this season.

Hue Jackson has officially landed the job at Grambling State, the school confirmed today. This will be Jackson's first head coaching job since he was fired by the Browns in 2018.

Jackson took over as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Tennessee State in 2021, joining the staff of former Titans great Eddie George in his first coaching role. The Tigers went 5–6 this season, an improvement from the program's 2–5 record in 2020, and 3–9 record in its last full season back in 2019.

After reports emerged Thursday that Jackson and Grambling State were working on an agreement, the program announced the move on Friday morning. 

Word on the street is @huejack10 is our new head coach! Welcome to the G! #Exit81 #HueDat #ThisIsTheG pic.twitter.com/j28lVCpZGQ

— Grambling State Athletics (@GSU_TIGERS) December 10, 2021

Jackson takes over for former coach Broderick Fobbs, who was fired in November. Fobbs went 54–32 in eight seasons at Grambling State, but posted a disappointing 3–11 record over the last two years.

He joins a growing list of big-name coaches taking opportunities at HBCU programs. George followed in the footsteps of Deion Sanders, who has had a ton of success at Jackson State, and has reportedly received looks from Power Five programs from his short period of time as a college head coach. 

Both were mentioned by Jackson during his introductory press conference.

Hue Jackson on joining big names like Deion Sanders and Eddie George as head coaches of HBCU football programs:

"I think the landscape is changing. Eddie George and Deion Sanders are doing great jobs in their respective places. We want to do the same here and do it even better." pic.twitter.com/MWbKU9TmgI

— Andscape (@andscape) December 10, 2021

“I’m happy for Hue to get an opportunity to be a head coach again,” Sanders said, per The Undefeated. “I’m not happy in the sense that it affects Eddie George.”

Former Grambling State star quarterback and coach Doug Williams is very happy with the hire. 

“Think about this: A two-time NFL head coach, offensive coordinator, at Southern California and a lot of other places,” he told The Undefeated. “How many guys like that are gonna come to a historical Black college and coach football?

“It’s a great thing for Grambling and for Hue to want to do it. I mean we know he’s there to coach football, because there’s not a lot of other things to do in Grambling.”

Jackson has an 11-41-1 record as NFL coach. Before breaking into the NFL, he served as offensive coordinator at USC and Cal, and was quarterbacks and running backs coach at Arizona State, among other stops.

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For more news on the Grambling State Tigers, head over to HBCU Legends.