Texas College’s Jackson named Region 5 Coach of Year

Published 5:09 pm Friday, November 22, 2024

Texas College football coach Jarrail Jackson, who has led the Steers to a remarkable turnaround this season, has been named the 2024 AFCA NAIA Region 5 Coach of the Year.

Jackson led TC to an 8-3 record, the most wins since the program was revived in 2003.

In his third year at the helm for Texas College, the Steers finished the season with eight wins, going undefeated at home (6-0).

The announcement of Coach Jackson’s selection was made earlier this week by the American Football Coaches Association. As the 2024 AFCA NAIA Region 5 Coach of the Year, Coach Jackson is also a finalist for AFCA’s NAIA National Coach of the Year.

The AFCA recognizes five regional Coach of the Year winners in each of the Association’s five divisions: Football Bowl Subdivision, Football Championship Subdivision, Division II, Division III, and NAIA. The winners are selected by active members of the Association who vote for coaches in their respective regions and divisions.

The winners will be honored on Monday, Jan. 13 at the 2025 AFCA Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina. AFCA’s NAIA National Coach of the Year will be announced on Monday, Dec. 16.

Jackson is a former standout at the University of Oklahoma.

Jackson played at Houston Yates High School before going to OU. He is noted for returning a punt for a touchdown in the 1996 Texas-OU game that sparked the Sooners to a 30-27 overtime victory over the Longhorns.

As a senior in Bob Stoops’ first year at Oklahoma and with Mike Leach as offensive coordinator, Jackson caught 44 passes for a team-leading 572 yards and a team-high six touchdowns.

Following his collegiate career, Jackson spent two years on the Buffalo Bills’ practice squad and played several arena football league seasons.

Jackson’s coaching career began in 2004 when he coached wide receivers at Chickasha High School in Oklahoma. In 2005, he was a volunteer assistant coach at the University of Central Oklahoma. In 2006, he began a six-year stint at the Ivy League’s Dartmouth College. Jackson then spent three years at the University of Washington (Director of Player Relations), followed by stops at Davidson College (quarterbacks coach), Mississippi State (offensive analyst) and back to Central Oklahoma.

When Stoops took over the Dallas XFL team he hired Hal Mumme as offensive coordinator and Jackson as the receiver coach to work in the “Air Raid” system.

Jackson was named coach of the Steers on May 5, 2022.

The Steers capped off the season with a 28-7 win over Nelson University (formerly Southwestern Assemblies of God) last Saturday in Tyler

“This is a special moment for Texas College,” Jackson said. “Our players worked incredibly hard this season, and going undefeated at home shows the pride they have in representing this school and this community. To finish 8-3 — it’s something we’ll cherish and build on for the future.”

The Steers tied for third in the Sooner Athletic Conference with a 5-3 mark, along with Langston. Texas Wesleyan won the league with an 8-0 record, followed by Ottawa-Arizona (7-1).

Texas College scored wins over Central Methodist (Missouri) (26-15), Westgate Christian (54-3), North American (25-21), Arkansas Baptist (49-22), Louisiana Christian (40-34 in overtime), Oklahoma Panhandle State (30-24), Wayland Baptist (38-36) and Nelson (28-7).

The TC program began in 1918 and in 1920 Texas College was one of the original “Super Six” to form the Southwestern Athletic Conference. The Steers have won five SWAC football championships (1934, 1935, 1936, 1942, and 1944). Texas College won a national championship in 1935. The program was discontinued in the 1960s but was re-born in 2003.

Although classified as an independent club-level team, the Steers were 7-3 record in the first season back against official intercollegiate varsity programs, including a notable victory over NCAA Division I Prairie View A&M University.

TC joined the Central States League in 2004. The Steers won two CSFL conference championships (2005, 2006). In 2018, Texas College left the CSFL to join the Sooner Athletic Conference.