It took DeSean Jackson three years after his NFL retirement to get a college head coaching job.
It took Jackson 7 ½ hours last Saturday to get his first college win as Delaware State head coach.
Coach Jackson’s Hornets kicked off at home at 1 pm last Saturday against the University of Albany. The game was delayed 40 minutes in the fourth quarter due to lightning in the area with Albany winning 32-31. After play resumed, the game was soon stopped with 2 minutes remaining. This time, the delay was three hours with teams patiently sitting in their locker rooms, hydrating, eating and trying to stay loose.
When the game finally restarted Saturday evening, Delaware State capped a 14-play drive with a scoring run with 34 seconds remaining. Coach Jackson’s team held on for the 37-32 victory. The game finally ended at 8:30 PM.
Was the win worth the long weather delays?
“I know my guys and all the work they have put in since I took over,” said the 38-year-old Jackson, who inherited a program that won only 2 of 23 games the last two seasons. “I know how dedicated my team is and I know how dedicated I am to winning. As I have told the team many times, we ARE going to have success here with this program.”
The 15-year (2008-22) NFL receiver was not the only NFL alum to gain his initial victory last weekend as a first-time college coach.
Michael Vick, who was announced as the new head coach at Norfolk State just days prior to Jackson’s hiring, led his team to victory by erasing a 10-point fourth quarter deficit to win 34-31in overtime against Virginia State.
“Hopefully, our win today will be the first of many” said Coach Vick in the noisy Norfolk State locker room. “It feels good. I take no credit away from Virginia State because they played a helluva game. I’m just glad we got out of the stadium with the win. I appreciate our guys hanging in there and being patient. We shot ourselves in the foot with penalties, but in the second half and overtime, we executed when it mattered most.”
Another winning head coach with a new team last weekend was the Las Vegas Raiders’ Pete Carroll. At age 73, he won his season opener 20-13 against the Patriots on the road in Foxboro. He now is the oldest head coach in NFL history.
Although he never played in the league, many of you were on teams with Carroll over the years when he was head coach for the Jets (1994), Patriots (1997-99), USC Trojans (2001-09) or Seahawks (2010-23) in a career that has spanned four decades.
We at NFL Alumni congratulate all three individuals and hope there are many more victories for them in the near future.
