It took literally seconds into the introductory press conference this past January for Tremaine Jackson to lay out his bold plan for the Prairie View A&M football program.
Deliver the SWAC West. Deliver the SWAC Championship. Deliver the Black College Football national championship, aka Celebration Bowl. Deliver the Panthers to Football Championship Series (FCS) prominence. Such bravado out of the gate for a 41-year-old coach who had never been a head coach at the Division I-A level, naturally rubbed some the wrong way while others simply dismissed the talk as typical bluster meant to rally the base.
But with one game remaining in the regular season, Jackson has already shown that he is doing more than talking the talk. He is making the walk after the Panthers claimed the SWAC West division title and now awaits to find out who their opponent will be in next month’s SWAC Championship Game.
What Jackson has accomplished in a short amount of time may be a surprise to most, but it isn’t at all to him.
As far as Jackson is concerned, his steps have been ordered.
“I’m living on the prayers of my grandmother (Clara Jackson). I know what I prayed for and I know what’s been prayed for for me,” Jackson said to the Defender this week. “Coaching is a calling for me. I ain’t no preacher. My pulpit is outside on this field. We’re developing men, we’re giving guys opportunities to have great futures. Some have been in trouble, some transferred, some came from high school.
“We’ve just got a different way of doing things. The difference is that we actually believe in that. So I didn’t make any promises. I just told people what was going to happen. We’ve been here before, and it’s no disrespect to anybody; we just really believe in what we believe in.”
Jackson and his staff came to Prairie View last winter, fresh off an undefeated regular season at Division II powerhouse Valdosta State and a run to the national championship game. And almost from the moment he landed on the Hill, Jackson showed that he cared more about building his program and the young men in the program the right way, over whether he rubbed people the wrong way.
Jackson was sometimes brutally honest with the players he inherited from Bubba McDowell’s staff, telling them that his program and the demands probably weren’t for them. Others he embraced, but promised the transition would be anything but easy or fun.
“There is a calling on my life and I understand it. As we talk, we are talking because of the prayers of other people and the calling that is on my life. It’s really convicting to me because I know whose I am, as they say.”
Tremaine Jackson
Then Jackson went and scoured the transfer portal to find players who fit his expectations of hard work, dedication, commitment, and sacrifice. He came out with a mix of new players, including some from Valdosta State, and inherited players who could deal with the demands on the field, in the weight room, and in the classroom.
The result has played out this season with a team full of gritty players who are mentally strong and relentless on the field. The Panthers are 8-3 overall and 6-1 in SWAC play, with a chance to win nine games for the first time since 2009 if they can defeat Mississippi Valley State at home in the regular-season finale. They have dominated a division they were supposed to finish in the middle of with a 5-0 run.
But what we have found is that outside opinions and thoughts carry no weight with Jackson, who tends to shrug a lot.
“I believe what I believe in,” said Jackson, who is also being mentioned as a candidate for the UAB opening and will likely be in the conversation for more jobs in the coming weeks. “We mentor kids, and we give great messages. I have guys coming back who have played for us at other places. They are coming to see us here at Prairie View A&M. We’ve got a lot of Prairie View A&M people who are real excited, and they should be because the institution is elite.
“I don’t know if we made any promises. We just kind of said what was going to happen and when those things started to happen, and as they are happening, it’s no surprise to me.”
Initially, it was said that Jackson may have rubbed some of the SWAC coaches the wrong way with the bravado he displayed from the very beginning. Jackson went so far as to post a video from a practice session last spring, singing off-key about the goal of ending up in Atlanta for the Celebration Bowl.
But if there were some hard feelings at first, they have been replaced with feelings of respect.
“Hey, listen man, we are grown men,” said Arkansas-Pine Bluff coach Alonzo Hampton, who is fresh off a 56-9 drubbing at the hands of the Panthers this past weekend. “He should be talking about his team, making his team think that they are the best team. That’s what he is supposed to do.
“I don’t know why anybody would be offended. If you are offended, then go beat him. At the end of the day, this man– every encounter I’ve had with him — he has been an outstanding person.”
Alabama State head coach Eddie Robinson, Jr. has been impressed with how Jackson is guiding the program in his first season. Robinson and the Hornets escaped Panther Stadium earlier this month with a 31-28 win and could see Prairie View again in the Dec. 6 SWAC Championship Game.
“He has made a lot of progress in one year with the turnover of the players and just getting everybody to buy in,” Robinson said to the Defender. “Just love the way he is preaching the message and getting it to soak into the young men. We know as coaches that it will soak in eventually. We don’t know if it’s going to take six months, one year, a year and a half, two years. But he has done a great job of getting everybody to follow in the mindset of the head coach.”
Still, Jackson seems surprised that any of what is being accomplished at Prairie View is a surprise. After all, this is his calling.
“It’s shocking to me, just like it’s shocking to some people that we said what we said. It’s shocking to me that people don’t believe us,” Jackson said. “We just all have to go play the game the way that we play. This is a really good conference. We have really good coaches. These coaches have coached at places that I’ve only dreamed of. But the calling on my life is special, and I believe in it. And who am I not to voice when you have a calling on your life.”
