Grambling State and Hue Jackson have decided to part ways while Dan Hawkins will step down from his head coaching duties at UC Davis. The duo are the latest coaching changes at the FCS level this year.
Jackson spent two seasons with the Tigers but did not achieve a winning record in either one. Jackson’s short tenure ended with an 8-14 overall record and he went 6-10 in the SWAC. Grambling last successful season was in 2017 when Broderick Fobbs led GSU to its most recent SWAC Championship although they lost the Celebration Bowl to North Carolina A&T 21-14. Fobbs then posted back-to-back 6-5 seasons in 2018 and 2019 along with an 0-4 record in the 2020-21 season. Fobbs was fired in 2021 before the Bayou Classic, which Grambling won with Terrence Graves as interim coach as the Tigers finished 4-7.
Hue Jackson arrived for the 2022 season and Grambling subsequently went 3-8. In 2023, he was 5-5 heading into the Bayou Classic but lost 27-22 despite having four chances inside the five-yard line to take the lead at the end of the game. Grambling has lost 5 of the last 6 Bayou Classic games against rival Southern, which is also looking for a new head coach after two seasons. The lone win came in the aforementioned 2021 contest and the 2023 loss came with Graves once again as the interim coach but for Southern this time.
Hawkins helped elevate the Aggies in the competitive Big Sky as head coach. In 2018, UC Davis finished in a three-way tie for the Big Sky title and made the program’s first FCS playoff appearance. They reached the quarterfinals where they lost 34-29 to fellow Big Sky member Eastern Washington. They returned to the playoffs a second time in 2021 but lost their opening-round matchup against South Dakota State 56-24. Hawkins went 44-31 overall and 31-22 in the Big Sky during his seven seasons including five winning seasons.
Hawkins spent two seasons as a player at UC Davis in 1981 and 1982 followed by three more seasons as an assistant from 1983 to 1985. He was head coach of Boise State (2001 through 2005) and Colorado (2006 through 2010) but left the collegiate level for 6 years before becoming the head coach at UC Davis in 2017.
Photo Credit to Grambling State University Athletics
