Hue Jackson

Raiders Expected To Add Hue Jackson To Coaching Staff

The Raiders are set to add another experienced coach to their staff. According to Vic Tafur of The Athletic, the Raiders are expected to hire Hue Jackson.

The former Raiders and Browns head coach met with the organization last week, and he’s currently “ironing out a role” on new offensive coordinator Luke Getsy‘s staff. We heard that the organization was eyeing Jackson last week, but it was uncertain if he was still in the team’s plans after they had to pivot from Kliff Kingsbury to Getsy.

Jackson has multiple connections to the Raiders. The long-time coach had a two-year stint in Oakland, serving as the OC for a year before replacing Tom Cable at head coach. He went 8-8 during his lone season at the helm and was fired after the season. The 58-year-old also has a connected to head coach Antonio Pierce, who was an undrafted free agent when Jackson was in Washington.

Jackson has held multiple OC titles through his long career, but he’s most known for his dreadful two-plus-year stint in Cleveland that saw the Browns go 3-36-1. After getting fired by the Browns during the 2018 campaign, he had a stint with the Bengals and Tennessee State before being named the head coach at Grambling State. Following two-straight losing seasons, he was fired by the school in November. Now, he’ll land on his feet in Las Vegas.

Pierce has been busy adding experienced voices to his coaching staff. After assisting Pierce during his interim stretch, Marvin Lewis will be sticking with the organization in some capacity.

Raiders Expected To Hire Kliff Kingsbury As Offensive Coordinator

Kliff Kingsbury is back in the NFL. The Raiders are expected to hire the former Cardinals head coach as their new offensive coordinator, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

[RELATED: Latest On Raiders’ OC Vacancy]

Aaron Wilson of KPRC2 in Houston reported earlier today that the Raiders were considered the front runner for Kingsbury’s services. NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo adds that the two sides still haven’t officially agreed to a deal, although it’s expected to get done eventually.

Kingsbury spent the 2023 campaign at USC, where he served as the senior offensive analyst and quarterbacks coach. He worked extensively with top QB prospect Caleb Williams, guiding the former Heisman Trophy winner to a 30-touchdown, five-interception campaign. While Kingsbury obviously isn’t entirely responsible for Williams’ NFL future, the coach didn’t do anything to hurt the QB’s draft stock.

Thanks to his relative success at USC, Kingsbury seemed to brush away some of the concerns surrounding him following his disappointing end in Arizona. It was the coach’s offensive acumen that helped earn him the Cardinals head coaching job back in 2019. The team took steps forward in each of Kingsbury’s first three years at the helm, culminating in an 11-win season in 2021. However, following a 2022 campaign that saw Arizona drop to 4-13, Kingsbury was relieved of his duties.

Following his one season in the college ranks, Kingsbury returned to the coaching cycle this past offseason. He also interviewed for the Bears and Eagles OC vacancies, although both organizations decided to go in different directions. Ultimately, he managed to secure a coordinator job under Antonio Pierce in Las Vegas.

Former offensive coordinator Mick Lombardi was fired back in October, but the team waited until they had a full-time HC before making a move. A number of candidates have been connected to the open gig, but we’re still learning of other coaches who were apparently interviewed for the job. Per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, former Eagles and 49ers head coach Chip Kelly interviewed at least twice for the Raiders OC job.

We heard a few weeks ago that Kelly could be a candidate for an offensive coordinator role, although there weren’t any definitive teams connected to the veteran coach. Kelly has served as UCLA’s head coach since the 2018 campaign.

Pierce is clearly focused on adding experienced coaches to his staff. Former Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis has already caught on with the organization, with Mike Jurecki of Arizona Football Daily revealing that Lewis has officially been named the Raiders assistant head coach. Further, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reports that the Raiders are also eyeing former Browns head coach Hue Jackson for an offensive coaching job. This would be a return trip for Jackson. Prior to his defining stint in Cleveland, Jackson enjoyed a one-season stint (2011) as Raiders HC, finishing 8-8.

NFL Investigation Does Not Substantiate Hue Jackson’s Claims That Browns Incentivized Tanking

The investigation into former Browns head coach Hue Jackson‘s allegations that Cleveland incentivized tanking during Jackson’s time as HC has concluded. In a statement released by the league, it was announced that the investigation — which was conducted by former U.S. Attorney and SEC Chair Mary Jo White, along with a team of lawyers from the Debevoise law firm — could not substantiate any of Jackson’s claims.

According to the statement, the investigation saw full cooperation from the Browns, including owner Jimmy Haslam and current and former members of the organization. Jackson himself originally agreed to meet with investigators but ultimately declined to do so.

Jackson, who has also claimed that the Browns set him up for failure by pitting him against an analytics-driven front office, accused the team of paying bonus money to him, current GM Andrew Berry, current chief strategy officer Paul DePodesta, and former executive VP Sashi Brown to tank during the 2016-17 seasons.

We were paid for it,” Jackson said in February. “You’re going to see it as losing, but the way the team was built there was no chance to win at a high level. My record that year [2016] was 1-15. There was a four-year plan that was crafted, and I have documentation that any coach would cringe if he saw it, because it talked things that had nothing to do with winning. Aggregate rankings, being the youngest team, having so many draft picks — none of those things lead to winning.”

After 2016’s 1-15 campaign that Jackson referenced, the Browns finished 0-16 the following year and started the 2018 season 2-5-1 before Jackson was fired. Under interim HC Gregg Williams, Cleveland finished 2018 on a 5-3 run, which the team was quick to point out when Jackson first levied his accusations.

So while Haslam is still dealing with the PR backlash of the Deshaun Watson acquisition and the uncertainty that continues to swirl around that matter, he has at least avoided the type of fallout that would have ensued had the league substantiated Jackson’s allegations.

Jackson, meanwhile, was recently hired to be Grambling State’s head coach.

NFL Coaching Notes: Rams, Brown, Bengals, Texans

While the Rams have lost Kevin O’Connell and Wes Phillips to Minnesota, it appears they won’t see their entire offensive staff dismantled. According to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, assistant quarterbacks coach Zac Robinson is expected to stay with the team with a bit of a promotion in title.

The Rams still have an offensive coordinator position up for grabs. Currently, the favorite to land the job is University of Kentucky offensive coordinator Liam Coen. Coen worked on the Rams’ offensive staff for three years before spending last year in Lexington. He’s turned down multiple job offers recently to remain at Kentucky, but the opportunity to rejoin Sean McVay in Los Angeles may be too good to pass up.

Here are a few more coaching notes from the NFL starting with another note from the Super Bowl LVI champions:

  • Rapoport also reported that Rams’ running backs coach and assistant head coach Thomas Brown is expected to return to Los Angeles. Brown received head coaching interest from Miami and was a candidate to join O’Connell in Minnesota as offensive coordinator before Phillips was announced earlier today. Brown’s presence will provide McVay with some much needed continuity to his offensive staff.
  • The Bengals have hired Charles Burks from the Dolphins to become their cornerbacks coach, according to Aaron Wilson of Pro Football Network. No word yet on the status of the Bengals’ cornerbacks coach from last season, Steve Jackson.
  • The Texans’ have hired Ted White with the official title of offensive assistant-quarterbacks. White had recently accepted the position of offensive coordinator at Grambling State University under head coach Hue Jackson, but Jackson will have to find someone else to fill the role. White has molded quarterbacks at Texas Southern, Southern, his alma mater of Howard, Arkansas-Pine Bluff, and Prairie View A&M. He’ll be tasked with the development of second-year quarterback Davis Mills.

Hue Jackson Accuses Browns Of Incentivizing Tanking

THURSDAY: Haslam denied paying Jackson to lose games, saying during an appearance on Knox News the current Grambling State HC has lobbed salvos at the Browns to cover up his poor performance as a head coach. While Jackson was saddled with terrible rosters in 2016 and ’17, Haslam pointed to the 2018 season — when the Browns finished 5-3 after starting 2-5-1 before Jackson’s ouster — as evidence Jackson deserves more of the responsibility than he has accepted for the failures of that period. The former Cleveland coach’s claims center on the 2016 and ’17 slates, though Haslam said “unequivocally, Hue Jackson was never paid to lose games.”

WEDNESDAY: Former Browns head coach Hue Jackson plans to speak with Brian Flores‘ attorneys about the latter’s class-action lawsuit against the NFL, Charles Robinson of Yahoo.com reports. While Flores named the Dolphins, Giants and Broncos in his suit, the Browns would come to the forefront if Jackson signs on as a plaintiff.

The former Cleveland HC has expressed a willingness to reveal proof Browns owner Jimmy Haslam incentivized tanking during the 2016 and ’17 seasons, Robinson adds. The executive director of the Hue Jackson Foundation, Kimberly Diemert, accused the Browns of paying bonus money to Jackson, current GM Andrew Berry, current chief strategy officer Paul DePodesta and former executive VP Sashi Brown to tank during those seasons (Twitter link).

Jackson has replied to several tweets on this matter as well. In a tweet Tuesday night, Jackson said, “I stand with Brian Flores. I can back up every word I’m saying.” While the Browns were attempting a radical rebuild during those seasons, ones that pitted Jackson against a new-age front office, the team strongly denied Diemert’s allegation. Jackson is currently the head coach at Grambling State, which hired him in December.

The recent comments by Hue Jackson and his representatives relating to his tenure as our head coach are completely fabricated,” a Browns spokesperson said, via Robinson. “Any accusation that any member of our organization was incentivized to deliberately lose games is categorically false.”

In a separate Twitter reply, Jackson made another claim the Browns were incentivizing losses, saying, “Trust me it was a good number” when asked about the Dolphins’ alleged $100K payments to Flores. The Browns, who hired John Dorsey as GM late in 2017, fired Jackson midway through the 2018 season. Jackson went 3-36-1 in Cleveland. This tenure included the league’s second 0-16 season in 2017.

We were paid for it. You’re going to see it as losing, but the way the team was built there was no chance to win at a high level,” Jackson said when asked about being incentivized to tank during a SportsCenter appearance on Wednesday (via ESPN.com’s Jake Trotter, on Twitter). “My record that year [2016] was 1-15. There was a four-year plan that was crafted, and I have documentation that any coach would cringe if he saw it, because it talked things that had nothing to do with winning. Aggregate rankings, being the youngest team, having so many draft picks — none of those things lead to winning.

I didn’t understand what the plan was. I asked for clarity because it did not talk about winning and losing until Year 3 and 4. That told you right there that something wasn’t correct, but I still couldn’t understand it until [seeing] the team that I had. And once being in the midst of it and finding out the team that I had and understanding that, ‘Wait a minute. At the end of the year there’s money coming in?’ Like I said, I didn’t understand it, here’s this money and percentages based on what you did, that didn’t make any sense to me.

“I remember very candidly saying to Jimmy, ‘I’m not interested in this bonus money,’ because I’ve never known that to be a bonus. I was interested in taking whatever money that was and putting it toward getting more players on our football team, because I didn’t think we were very talented at all.”

Fielding a team bad enough to go 1-31 in a two-year stretch and offering payments to a coach and execs for losses are obviously two different things. The latter accusations levied against the Dolphins and Browns being proven would certainly double as one of the biggest scandals in NFL history. Having not been an NFL coach since 2018, Jackson also has less to lose than Flores, who interviewed for four HC jobs during this year’s cycle. Attorneys for Flores anticipate other coaches joining the since-fired Dolphins HC’s litigation, Robinson adds.

Grambling State Hires Hue Jackson As HC

Hue Jackson once again finds himself as a head coach. Hired as Tennessee State’s offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach back in April, Jackson has agreed to a four-year contract to become HC of Grambling State, as Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network reports (via Twitter).

The 56-year-old worked under head coach Eddie George at Tennessee State. Though the FCS squad finished the 2021 season with a 5-6 record, Grambling State — one of the country’s highest-profile HBCU programs — is willing to take a chance on a man who has NFL head coaching experience and who was at one time considered one of the game’s sharpest offensive minds.

Of course, Jackson’s most recent HC gig in the NFL didn’t exactly go according to plan. Over two-and-a-half seasons as the Browns’ sideline general, he posted a 3-36-1 record, though he later claimed that the organization set him up for failure. Regardless of the veracity of that claim, Jackson now has a good opportunity for some measure of redemption.

He was not, however, Grambling State’s first choice. As Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports writes, the school first offered the position to Hall of Fame safety Ed Reed, who has worked on the Bills’ coaching staff and who is presently serving as the chief of staff for the University of Miami football program.

Given Miami’s recent upheaval — the Hurricanes just hired a new head coach and athletic director, a process that Reed was obviously deeply involved in — Reed declined the offer. La Canfora’s report also indicated that the timing was not right for Reed and his family, but Reed did seriously consider the proposal and is interested in a head coaching post down the road.

Hue Jackson Hired As Tennessee State OC

Hue Jackson is back in football. The former Browns and Raiders head coach will serve as the offensive coordinator for Eddie George‘s Tennessee State staff, as Mike Organ of The Tennessean writes. 

Jackson, 55, has been away from the game since infamous tenure with the Browns. After his Cleveland teams went 3-36-1 across two-and-a-half seasons, Jackson has hardly been able to get an interview for an NFL job. Recently, he went public to try and set the record straight.

There is no doubt I was lied to by ownership and the executive team,” Jackson said. “They were going to be football plus analytics, but they intentionally made it football versus analytics. They were going to take two years and they were going to find a way to use us as an experiment to make sure that they got the data that they needed for it to get better — at the expense of whoever — and that’s not right.”

Now, Jackson will try to rebuild his stock at the NCAA level. For what it’s worth, he was in the running for the Steelers’ OC position just a few months ago, so it’s still possible that he could mount an NFL return — just not in Cleveland.

Hue Jackson: Browns “Lied” To Me

The Browns moved on from Hue Jackson nearly three years ago. Jackson, who is planning to release a book about his run in Cleveland, has not moved on entirely from his rocky tenure.

There is no doubt I was lied to by ownership and the executive team,” Jackson said (via Tom Withers of the Associated Press). “They were going to be football plus analytics, but they intentionally made it football versus analytics. They were going to take two years and they were going to find a way to use us as an experiment to make sure that they got the data that they needed for it to get better — at the expense of whoever — and that’s not right.”

At one point in time, Jackson was regarded as one of the NFL’s top offensive gurus. Then, a 3-36-1 record across two-and-a-half Browns seasons sank his stock. Jackson has been out of the NFL picture ever since, save for a brief return to the Bengals as an assistant in late 2018.

I want to make sure everybody knows and understands exactly what went on in Cleveland,” said Jackson. “The truth needs to come out. I am tired of being the brunt of jokes and memes and things that people say when they don’t know.”

Jackson, 55, interviewed for the Steelers’ OC job earlier this year, but Pittsburgh promoted Matt Canada instead. Jackson’s latest comments (and forthcoming book) could be an attempt to get back into the coaching mix.

Steelers To Interview Pep Hamilton For OC

We heard last week that the Steelers were expected to promote Matt Canada to offensive coordinator to replace Randy Fichtner, but that is not a done deal just yet. As veteran NFL reporter Josina Anderson was first to report (via Twitter), Pittsburgh requested an interview with Chargers quarterbacks coach Pep Hamilton for its OC position, and Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette tweeted that the Steelers will meet with Hamilton today.

This jibes with a recent report from Dulac, whose sources indicated that Canada was a “candidate” for the OC gig but that nothing had been finalized. Obviously, the Steelers are still in search mode, which means that Hue Jackson is presumably still in the running as well.

Hamilton certainly has a more extensive NFL resume than Canada, who was in the college game for his entire career except 2020, when he joined the Steelers as their QB coach. Hamilton, meanwhile, served as the Colts’ OC from 2013-15, and he has also had stops with the Jets, 49ers, Bears, and Browns.

After two years working under Jim Harbaugh as the University of Michigan’s assistant head coach/passing game coordinator, and after an ill-fated gig as the head coach and GM of the XFL’s DC Defenders, the 46-year-old Hamilton rejoined the NFL ranks in 2020, when he hooked on with the Chargers. The success of rookie QB Justin Herbert has helped Hamilton boost his stock, as he is also a candidate for the Dolphins’ OC position.

If he joins the Steelers, Hamilton will be tasked with getting more out of a unit that finished 25th in the league in total offense in 2020 despite the presence of some highly-talented weapons. He will also try to develop the games of potential Ben Roethlisberger heirs Mason Rudolph and Dwayne Haskins.

Steelers Interviewed Hue Jackson For OC Job

The Steelers interviewed former Browns head coach Hue Jackson earlier this week for their offensive coordinator vacancy (Twitter link via Dianna Russini of ESPN.com). However, it doesn’t seem that Jackson will get the job, since quarterbacks coach Matt Canada has been ticketed for a promotion.

[RELATED: Steelers To Promote Matt Canada To OC]

At one point in time, Jackson was regarded as one of the NFL’s top offensive gurus. Then, he went 3-36-1 record across two-and-a-half tumultuous seasons with the Browns and his stock plummeted. The Browns placed much of the blame on Jackson’s shoulders. Jackson, naturally, sees things differently. Jackson has been out of the NFL picture ever since, save for a brief return to the Bengals as an assistant to Marvin Lewis in late 2018.

While his work as a dual head coach/OC with the Browns was ineffective, Jackson did lead the Bengals to a No. 2 ranking in offensive DVOA in 2015, his last season as strictly an offensive play-caller. Jackson won’t make his comeback in Pittsburgh, but other teams could still consider the veteran coach in this cycle.