The trend of HBCUs hiring black former NFL players continues with DeSean Jackson reportedly taking the reins at Delaware State:

This comes less than two weeks after Michael Vick was named head coach of his hometown Norfolk State Spartans.

There has been immense momentum for the football programs at historically black colleges and universities, spurred by the success of Deion Sanders and Eddie George.  Deion went 27-6 at Jackson State, took some of those players to Colorado with him, and went 9-3 in year two with a bowl game against BYU taking place on Saturday. George went 9-4 this season with Tennessee State and was named Big South-OVC Coach of the Year.

Like Vick, D Jaxx* has basically no coaching experience. He was the 2024 offensive coordinator at Woodrow Wilson Classical High School in Long Beach, California, and that’s the extent of his resume. But again, experience is not the point. It’s about making a splash for a DSU Hornets program that went 1-11 this year, 1-10 last year, and 5-6 in 2022. They play a hybrid schedule that is almost half non-conference games because the MEAC only has six football schools, one of which is Vick’s Norfolk State. So we’ll get a matchup next season between first year head coaches Michael Vick and DeSean Jackson and that is pretty sick no matter what you think of the hires.

You can’t blame DSU for switching things up and trying to make a splash, right? They have been total dreck for years. You bring in D Jaxx, steal a couple of recruits who might be interested in playing for a black former NFL star, and maybe you overachieve and inject some energy into the program. DSU has been bad for long enough to justify trying something completely different. Why not try to replicate the success that Jackson State and Tennessee State had by going down the same path?


It does make you wonder, however, if this model comes with diminishing returns. How many HBCUs will copy this formula? How many is too many? Will every HBCU have a former player with little to no head coaching experience running the program? And what does it mean for black coaches who have been serving as assistants and working their way up the ladder and building their resumes, waiting for these kinds of opportunities? It’s interesting to think about the possibility of the football world and general public turning on this model if it continues at this rate, but if DSU and Norfolk State win, then there won’t be a lot of complaints.

*Kyle Scott once threatened to fire me if I didn’t write “DeSean Jaccson” in a story. That’s a reference for OG Crossing Broad readers