Former Tiger Hue Jackson Named Head Coach Of The Oakland Raiders

Jan. 17, 2011

Stockton, Calif. - Reprinted with special permission from The Record

By Bob Highfill, Record Sports Editor

It was announced Monday that Former Tiger football standout and assistant coach Hue Jackson will be introduced as head coach of the Oakland Raiders on Tuesday, Jan. 18.

Jackson played quarterback at Pacific in the mid-1980s under the late Bob Cope.

Jackson got his coaching start at Pacific as an assistant for three seasons. He has since criss-crossed the country as a college and NFL assistant, and might be close to landing his first NFL head coaching job.

Some who played with Jackson or coached at Pacific during his two seasons there (1985, 1986) remember him as a student of the game and a leader on the field.

"He was very bright and mainly he was just a good leader on the team," said Steve Towne, a quarterback at Pacific from 1973-74 and an assistant coach with the Tigers from 1983-88. "He did a great job for us with his football knowledge."

Jackson, a native of Los Angeles, was recruited to Pacific from Glendale Community College. His skills fit well with offensive coordinator Greg Seamon's wishbone offense, a run-oriented attack where the quarterback has three running backs behind him. Jackson, then 6-foot and 195 pounds, had to decide in a split-second whether to hand off straight ahead to the fullback, keep the ball or pitch to a trailing running back.

"He was a good decision maker and we had the talent and the system to do what we did," said Bill McQueary, an assistant coach at Pacific from 1979-91. "We had a lot of success with it."

As a junior, Jackson had 1,595 yards of total offense, including 502 yards rushing, second-most on the team. In his senior season, he passed for 1,455 yards and rushed for 417 yards. The Tigers went 9-14 in Jackson's two seasons - the highlight was a 24-20 win over Minnesota his senior year.

"He was a perfectionist, a hard worker," said Steve Michaels, Pacific's starting fullback from 1983-86. "He was going to do everything he could to make himself the best he could be not only with his physical abilities but with his study of the opponent."

This season, his first with the Raiders, Jackson took over play calling duties from Cable and helped turn around an anemic offense. Oakland accumulated 1,416 more yards and scored 410 points, which more than doubled the production from the previous season (197).

The Raiders went 8-8, their best record since 2002, but it wasn't enough to save Cable, the former offensive line coach who won 17 of 44 games after taking over for Lane Kiffin on an interim basis in 2008.

Jackson previously has been an assistant with the Ravens, Falcons, Bengals and Redskins, and at USC, Cal, Arizona State and Cal State Fullerton. He coached offense at each stop.

"I'm happy for him," Michaels said. "He's worked hard."