Morehouse soccer desperately wants a shot within the arm. Hue Jackson is a dose of dangerous medication.
Based on reviews, Morehouse School — the all-male HBCU in Atlanta — is in negotiations with Jackson to be their subsequent head soccer coach. At this level, it feels prefer it’s inevitable. In full transparency, I’m a Morehouse (Man) alum and love my college. However let’s be clear. This column isn’t being written by emotion. It’s a breakdown of how and why Jackson is unfit for this place in each sense of the phrase, based mostly on truth and logic.
Let’s begin with the person.
The concept a program like Morehouse, one which’s coming off back-to-back 1-9 seasons and will likely be on its third head coach in three years when the season begins, has a possibility to be led by a former NFL head coach appears nice on paper. However, that’s why seems to be may be deceiving.
Throughout his time within the NFL, Jackson was 11-44 as a head coach between stops with the Raiders and Browns. In his lone season in Oakland, he was 8-8 earlier than he was fired. On the time, it felt unjust. However, when Jackson received to educate his personal crew once more in Cleveland he received uncovered. He was 1-15 in his first season and adopted that up by going winless in 2017 (0-16). He was fired throughout his third season after posting a 2-5-1 document in his final 12 months as an NFL head coach.
The subsequent time we noticed Jackson main a crew was when he took over at Grambling in 2022. In his two seasons, he was 8-14, placing his mixed profession successful share as a head coach at 24.6 % (19-58). However as dangerous as his document is, who Jackson confirmed himself to be at Grambling was even worse.
“I’m not a fan in any respect. I’m very, very disenchanted in Grambling, I actually am,” NFL legend and Grambling alum Doug Williams instructed The Washington Put up when Jackson employed Artwork Briles to his workers. “I talked to the AD a pair instances. They knew the place I stood, however they did it and if that’s what they need to do, that’s effective. I’m out.”
“Oh, no. I can’t try this. No, no, no. If I help them, I condone it,” Williams added, in response to the report.
Briles has been all however banished from teaching in faculty and the NFL on account of him being an “alleged” serial rape enabler. Briles was fired as the top coach at Baylor after a intercourse scandal found that the varsity’s former president and leaders, all the best way right down to Briles, had been trying the opposite method and ignoring rape allegations. It has been claimed that over 50 girls had been sexually assaulted and raped by greater than 30 gamers throughout a four-year span. The hiring of Briles set off an uproar, however as a substitute of fixing the difficulty, Jackson doubled down.
“This latest rent of Coach Briles is a testomony to the significance of those key elements: Forgiveness: We imagine that every one are deserving of forgiveness and with out it, therapeutic can’t start,” learn the phrases written on the web site for Jackson’s Basis. “Redemption: Redemption follows forgiveness. Going from surviving an expertise into thriving by way of new experiences require a restoration of religion and a possibility for enchancment. Enlightenment: It’s our personal experiences that give us the knowledge to show others the way to reside in a world of respect and honor.”
The drama got here to an finish when Briles determined to step away from Grambling, as Jackson didn’t have an issue with bringing him to an HBCU campus. It was proof that Jackson didn’t care about HBCU tradition or the scholars and alumni of those establishments. He solely cared about successful soccer video games.
Now, let’s take a look at why Morehouse isn’t the place for Jackson.
Final season, Morehouse solely had two residence video games — which is insane. A take a look at the document books will present that going 7-3 in 2018 was probably the most profitable season lately, because the Maroon Tigers went 4-6 in 2019 and 2020 — the varsity shut down the athletic division in 2020 as a result of pandemic. This system hasn’t received the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Convention (SIAC) since 1991. Jackson was a operating backs coach in NFL Europe that 12 months. I used to be seven.
To say Morehouse is a distinct place is an understatement, because it’s the one establishment of upper studying of its type on the planet. It’s a Black faculty for Black males. However on prime of all of the spectacular alumni that the faculty has produced since 1867, what many don’t know is that athletics are taken even much less severely there than at different HBCUs. Athletics have by no means and can by no means be the precedence at HBCUs, as sports activities, and significantly soccer, aren’t why college students go there. The star quarterback is rarely going to be the massive man on campus, regardless of what NFL aspirations they might have. And if athletics aren’t the main target at different HBCUs, then they’re an afterthought at Morehouse.
That’s not a dig at my alma mater or any of the nice athletes the varsity has produced. However you go to Morehouse to play college, not sports activities. As an example, at our final homecoming, greater than 35,000 individuals had been in attendance for the tailgate alone, whereas there weren’t 3,000 individuals within the stands for the sport. If you wish to go to “the league” in life, come to Morehouse — if you will get in. In case your sole goal is attending to “the league” in athletics, I’d advise enrolling someplace else. Because the alumni web site reads: “The mission of Morehouse School is to develop males with disciplined minds who will lead lives of management and repair. A personal traditionally Black liberal arts faculty for males, Morehouse realizes this mission by emphasizing the mental and character growth of its college students. As well as, the School assumes particular duty for instructing the historical past and tradition of Black individuals.”
However even for the scholars who’ve turn out to be, or those who want, to work in athletics/be knowledgeable athlete, Morehouse and HBCUs ought to by no means be seen as a final possibility, as that’s the best way Jackson views us. Don’t come operating to us once we had been by no means your precedence. This isn’t “Final Probability U.”
“Regardless of their expertise and experience – minority coaches proceed to be ignored and under-represented within the NFL and Energy 5 colleges,” Jackson as soon as posted on social media. “I’m calling on coaches to pivot and take into account teaching at HBCUs. Not solely will this give them a possibility to hone their craft, however it could actually assist convey extra consideration and assets again to those nice establishments.”
If Jackson had been in negotiations with some predominately white establishment (PWI), I’d discover it comical as a result of it could imply that some misguided athletic director with a foul soccer crew was attempting to rent a reputation who would garner consideration, not improve wins. However Morehouse, and HBCUs, are a distinct world. The betterment of the whole pupil physique is the main target, not simply the scholars who select to play sports activities.
It has been rumored that Morehouse will likely be becoming a member of the Mid-Jap Athletic Convention (MEAC) quickly, lending itself to why somebody like Jackson is in play, because the convention is a step up, particularly in soccer. However in just a few weeks, Morehouse School will likely be 157 years previous. And in that point it has constructed its legacy on producing Black males who’ve modified America and the world, repeatedly. The person who’s greater than seemingly going to turn out to be the brand new head soccer coach doesn’t match that invoice. From his efficiency on the sector to the horrible decisions he’s made as a frontrunner, Hue Jackson isn’t simply unworthy of Morehouse — Morehouse would cheapen itself by hiring him.
