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PRAIRIE VIEW — Tremaine Jackson certainly talks a good game.

During his introductory press conference as the new Prairie View football coach, Jackson sounded like part preacher and part wheeler and dealer as he promised a packed room of alumni, boosters, administrators, and former football players everything imaginable. 

The former Division II Valdosta State coach and Texas Southern alumni said he will deliver the Panthers to the SWAC Championship, the Black College Football National Championship Celebration Bowl, and FCS prominence.

But most importantly, the man dressed in a black suit with a purple tie, black shoes, and bare ankles promised that come the season-opening Aug. 30 Labor Day Classic, the Panthers will again reign supreme over rival Texas Southern.

“I’m not talking big,” Jackson said.  “I’m telling you what’s going to happen.”

It had been a couple of weeks since Prairie View announced the hiring of Jackson, who was fresh off leading Valdosta State to the Division II national championship game, as its 35th head football coach and the replacement for Bubba McDowell. But Jackson, whose hire became official on Jan. 1,  made up for the weeks of radio silence from the beginning to the end of the 10-minute introductory speech until it was over.

He provided plenty of bulletin board material for his contemporaries in the SWAC, HBCU football and the entire FCS.

“That’s fine. We understand that,” said the 41-year-old Jackson, who was named the AFCA Division II National Coach of the Year this past season after leading the Blazers to an undefeated regular season and FCS national championship game. “Let me tell you again, we are going to get on I-10, go toward I-20 because that’s the shorter way. We are going to go to Atlanta. Our fans are going to take over Atlanta and we are going to have a good time and we are going to win the Celebration Bowl and we are going to stay an extra day just because we know what’s happening later on that night.”

Jackson takes over a Prairie View program that is a year removed from winning the SWAC West Division title and competing in the conference championship game under McDowell. However, following two relatively successful seasons, McDowell’s team struggled this season to a 5-6 overall and 3-4 league record. His three-year contract wasn’t renewed.

Few specifics have been given about what caused McDowell, a former safety with the Houston Oilers and a longtime assistant coach at PV, to lose favor. But all kinds of hints were dropped Tuesday, such as a lack of discipline, the inability to win the conference championship, not winning enough in the non-conference, and perhaps most unforgiving, being on the losing end of the Labor Day Classic to rival TSU this past season.

McDowell had some success but clearly not enough for the folks at Prairie View.

“To me, being moderately successful ain’t why I came here,” said Prairie View athletic director Anton Goff. “My president didn’t hire me to be moderately successful.

“So, I looked at it and looked at where the program was and where I wanted it to go and I just felt like I needed a change.”

Goff hired a search firm to help identify Jackson as a potential candidate. But it was clear that a connection was made once Jackson met with Goff and President Tomikia P. LeGrande. Jackson admits he couldn’t stop thinking about the PV job despite preparing the Blazers for the national title game.

Jackson feels that with the facilities Prairie View has to offer, particularly Panther Stadium, he can transform the Panthers into a power in the near future. He just needs total buy-in and, of course, money from the boosters and supporters.

“That’s a great question. How fast we go, depends on how fast everybody buys in,” Jackson said in response to the Defender’s question of how long. “I know the administration has bought in because we wouldn’t be at this point if we all weren’t bought into one another. So I’m bought into the University and department and I know that they believe we are going to do what we said we are going to do.

“The question on that is the players and you guys (addressing the alumni, boosters and former players). How fast are you going to buy in? Are you going to keyboard it or are we going to write checks? Are we going to support these guys regardless of who are playing or are you only going to come to the popular games and Homecoming? How fast, depends on you.

“In the words of Martin Luther King: How long? Not long if you and the people in our program buy in today.”

Prairie View’s administration liked Jackson’s teams’ discipline and background as a head coach at Colorado Mesa, a defensive line coach at Texas State, and a defensive coordinator at Abilene Christian.

“There are two things about Coach. One, his record on the football field, recruiting kids and developing them to be champions on the field,” LeGrande said to the Defender. “But also his commitment to making sure they are champions in the classroom, because when you look at the rate of athletes who go on to professional sports, that percentage is low. So, we want to make sure we are preparing these students for life.

“He brought both of those things and a commitment to win. And to me, a commitment to win at Prairie View means making sure our institution is a premiere institution on and off that field.”

Jackson and Goff talked about their open discussions and the aligning of goals and visions they shared despite being members of different fraternities. Goff is a member of Kappa Alpha Psi and Jackson is a man of Omega Psi Phi.

“I like the way our values aligned just through conversation,” Goff said to the Defender. “It wasn’t about him researching something and spitting back something. We had real man-to-man conversations, we had AD-to-head coach conversations, we had Kappa to Que conversations.

“Every single role that I had and he had, we had those conversations over the whole process and I loved to getting to know him better. It was so natural for me to choose him and I just wanted him to choose me. We chose each other.”

Jackson was equally impressed with Goff.

“My man, one of the only Kappas I mess with,” he said as the crowd erupted in laughter. “AD Goff, man thank you for our conversations and your support during the time we are in.

“It ain’t easy. It’s not normal to have the alignment that you were talking about,” said Jackson, who was 30-9 in three seasons at Valdosta State. “I’ve been at places with no alignment. The vision that AD Goff has and what we are trying to get done, it’s going to make it real easy to come to work every day. So I appreciate you.”

I've been with The Defender since August 2019. I'm a long-time sportswriter who has covered everything from college sports to the Texans and Rockets during my 16 years of living in the Houston market....