Fred Jackson (born June 9, 1950) is an American college football coach and former player. He is currently the assistant running backs coach for the University of Michigan. He has worked with Michigan Wolverines running backs for 28 years, from 2022 to the present and from 1992 to 2014. He was also the offensive coordinator in 1995 and 1996, assistant head coach from 1997 to 2002, and associate head coach from 2003 to 2007. Jackson was on Michigan's staff when the team won national championships in 1997 and 2023.
Jackson was born on June 9, 1950 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.[1] He was a quarterback at Scotlandville High School in the Scotlandville section of Baton Rouge. Although contemporaneous sources have not been found for the claim of all-state honors,[2] a 1983 article in the Wisconsin State Journal claimed that Jackson was an all-state quarterback in both 1965 and 1966.[3] Another article written years later by Jackson's brother-in-law, a sports columnist for The Patriot-News of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and former Football Writers Association of America president,[4] claimed that he "was such a terrific high school quarterback in the mid-’60s that he found himself at a state awards banquet in Baton Rouge in 1968."[5]
College career
Jackson State
Jackson played college football for the Jackson State Tigers in Jackson, Mississippi from 1968 to 1970 or 1971.[6][5] In 2011 and 2016 feature articles and interviews, it was reported that he was recruited and played under head coach Rod Paige as a freshman, and that Jackson was a teammate of Walter Payton as a senior.[7][8] Jackson continued under head coach Ulysses S. McPherson when Paige stepped down as head coach after the 1968 season.
1968 and 1969 seasons
In September 1968, The Clarion-Ledger reported that Jackson was a sophomore competing for playing time at the quarterback position.[9] No contemporaneous or non-contemporaneous sources have been found that he was at Jackson State in 1967. During the entire 1968 season, Jackson was 18 years old. No contemporaneous coverage has been found of Jackson appearing in any games for the 1968 or 1969 Jackson State Tigers football team.
1970 season
In 1970, Sylvester Collins was Jackson State's starting quarterback, though there are contemporaneous articles that report Jackson also saw playing time at quarterback. In an October 1970 loss to Bishop, Jackson threw a 66-yard touchdown pass.[10] Jackson also saw late-game action against Grambling in October 1970, completing one of two passes as a substitute for Collins.[11] In his backup role, Jackson earned a reputation in 1970 as "a good passer."[12]
Disputed 1971 season
Although many non-contemporaneous sources, including a 1972 The Flint Journal article, assert that Jackson's playing career at Jackson State extended to 1971,[13] and that he was teammates with Walter Payton, no contemporaneous sources from 1971 have been found to corroborate the claim. Moreover, contemporaneous accounts from The Flint Journal in 1971 reported that Jackson was an assistant coach at Flint Southwestern High School during the 1971 season.[14][15]
Multiple non-contemporaneous sources, including a web biography by the University of Michigan athletic department's MGoBlue.com, all of which were published decades after Jackson's playing career, claim that Jackson received All-Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) honors and/or led the conference in passing as a senior.[6][16][17][5] However, contemporaneous sources do not list Jackson on any of the published All-SWAC teams during his time at Jackson State,[18][19][20] and also show that Sylvester Collins rather than Fred Jackson was Jackson State's starting quarterback in both 1970 and 1971 and that it was Collins who was named the All-SWAC quarterback in 1971.[21][22][23]
A 1972 feature story in The Flint Journal included claims that Jackson had been "the regular quarterback for four years at Jackson State" and that he completed 26 touchdown passes for the 1971 Jackson State team that compiled a 9–1–1 record.[13] However, Sylvester Collins was Jackson's starting quarterback for Jackson State's 1971 team (and the SWAC offensive player of the year).[23]
There are three contrasting sources concerning Jackson's relationship with the Philadelphia Eagles:
A September 1971 article in The Flint Journal reported that Jackson "was drafted by the pros but didn't try out because of a knee injury."[25] However, draft records show that Jackson was not selected in either the 1971 or 1972 NFL drafts.[26][27]
A June 1972 article in The Flint Journal reported that Jackson was drafted in the 12th round by the Eagles in 1971,[13] and that he played in two exhibition games for the Eagles during the 1971 pre-season, but had his season cut short by an injury to ligaments in his knee.[13]
A 2024 article in The Patriot-News of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania reported that Jackson only briefly tried out for the Eagles and did so in 1972 rather than 1971.[5] A 2011 article in The Michigan Daily also reports Jackson tried out for the Eagles briefly.[8]
Jackson also played minor-league football as a cornerback for the Flint Sabres of the Midwest Football League. According to coverage in The Flint Journal Jackson began with the Sabres in 1972,[13] and continued with the team through at least 1975.[13][28][29]
Detroit Wheels
There are non-contemporaneous sources claiming that Jackson played for the Detroit Wheels of the World Football League.[3][30] However, no contemporaneous coverage has been found confirming that he played for the Wheels. The best contemporaneous source found states that Jackson had a tryout in 1974 for a spot on the Wheels' taxi squad.[31]
Coaching career
Flint Southwestern
Although some non-contemporaneous sources listed a start date of 1972,[32] and show that Jackson did not graduate from Jackson State until 1972,[16][5]The Flint Journal reported on September 4, 1971, that Jackson had been hired as an assistant coach at Flint Southwestern High School in Flint, Michigan.[14] In November 1971, at the end of the football season, Flint Southwestern head coach Dar Christiansen gave much of the credit for the team's success in 1971 to his "men on the phones", including his new assistant coach, Fred Jackson.[15]
Jackson remained an assistant coach under Dar Christianen for seven years,[33] coaching quarterbacks and running backs. During his time as an assistant coach at Flint Southwestern, Jackson coached future Michigan quarterback, Rick Leach.
Jackson took over as head coach at Flint Southwestern in the summer of 1978.[33][34][35] He led Southwestern to a 6–3 record in 1978 and continued as Flint Southwestern's head football coach in 1979, compiling a 5–4 record for the 1978 season.[36] During his two years as head coach at Flint Southwestern, Jackson compiled an overall record of 11–7.[33]
Although some non-contemporaneous sources indicate that Jackson began coaching at Toledo in 1979,[32] multiple contemporaneous articles in The Flint Journal reported that Jackson remained the head football coach at Flint Southwestern through the 1979 season.[36][33][35][37][38][39]
Jackson was also a biology teacher at Flint Southwestern.[8] He coached the junior varsity basketball team during the 1972-73 season and also coached the school's track and field team starting in 1973.[40] He led the track squads to Michigan Class A championships in 1975[41] and 1977[42] and was named the Michigan High School Athletic Association track and field coach of the year in 1977.[8] In recognition of his contributions at Flint Southwestern, Jackson was inducted into the Greater Flint African American Sports Hall of Fame in 2010.[43][44]
Toledo
Jackson was hired as an assistant football coach the University of Toledo in January 1980.[45][46][47] Toledo's head coach, Chuck Stobart, explained his decision to hire Jackson: "I think Fred had a lot to do with Rick Leach's development. I have some very good recommendations on him."[48] Jackson coached receivers, tight ends, flankers and split ends at Toledo.[48] When Stobart left Toledo in 1982 to become the head football coach at the University of Utah, he approached Jackson about joining him there, but Jackson opted to stay at Toledo, and was promoted to offensive coordinator under Stobart's successor, Dan Simrell.[49] Jackson remained at Toledo until July 1983.[3]
Wisconsin
In July 1983, Jackson was hired as an assistant coach at Wisconsin.[3] He was Wisconsin's receivers coach from 1983 through 1986. He was also the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in his final season for the 1986 team.[8][16]
Navy, South Carolina, Purdue and Vanderbilt
In January 1987, Jackson was hired as the wide receivers coach under head coach Elliot Uzelac at Navy.[50] After one season at Navy, he was hired at South Carolina as the wide receivers and tight ends coach.[51] He also held positions at Purdue in 1989 and 1990 and Vanderbilt in 1991.
Michigan (first stint)
In 1986, Bo Schembechler offered him a job as a position coach on his staff at the University of Michigan. The two had forged a relationship during the recruitment of Rick Leach in 1974. Jackson turned him down as he had been promoted to offensive coordinator for Wisconsin that season. In 1992, Schembechler had retired as the head coach, though he retained front office responsibilities and had an office at the university. Schembechler again offered Jackson a job as the running backs coach, with the added caveat that if he didnt accept this time he would not be offered again.[52] Jackson accepted the offer and was hired away from Vanderbilt in 1992 to serve as the Michigan Wolverines running backs coach under Gary Moeller.[53]
He remained at Michigan from 1992 to 2014, eventually becoming the longest tenured member of the football coaching staff. He served on the staffs of head coaches Moeller, Lloyd Carr, Rich Rodriguez and Brady Hoke. He was the only assistant retained by Rodriguez and Hoke.[54][55] In addition to coaching running backs, Jackson served as Michigan's offensive coordinator from 1995 to 1996, assistant head coach from 1997 to 2002, and associate head coach from 2003 to 2007. He was a finalist for the Broyles Award in 2000 and received the AFCA Assistant Coach of the Year Award in 2001. Jackson was assistant head coach of Michigan's national championship teams in 1997. He was the position coach for many of the program's best running backs, including Tyrone Wheatley, Tim Biakabutuka, Anthony Thomas, Chris Perry, and Mike Hart.[56][5]
After the 2014 season, Jackson was officially listed as retired, though he was open to joining Jim Harbaugh when he took over as head coach in 2015.[57] When he was not retained, he felt a little betrayed by Harbaugh, especially because he didn't recruit his son Josh Jackson either, who was a senior quarterback from Saline High School in 2015. Jackson did not return to Michigan Stadium for the next five years.[5]
After a chance encounter with Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh in 2022, he invited Jackson to return to the program, and Jackson accepted.[5] He has served since that time as the assistant running backs coach, serving under head coaches Harbaugh, Sherrone Moore and Kyle Whittingham.[61] Jackson won a second national championship with the program in 2023, and helped coach Blake Corum to back-to-back All-American honors. In 2026, Jackson was retained in the same role under new head coach, Whittingham.[16]
Family
Jackson has a wife, Teresa, a daughter, Tonya, and three sons, Fred Jr., Jeremy, and Josh Jackson. Fred Jr. walked on as a quarterback briefly for the Western Michigan Broncos before transferring to Jackson State in the mid 1990s.[8] Jeremy was a wide receiver for the Michigan Wolverines, 2010 to 2013, and Josh was a quarterback for the Maryland Terrapins and Virginia Tech Hokies from 2016 to 2019.[16][62]
↑To the contrary, contemporaneous sources show that Louisiana's all-state quarterbacks in 1965 were John Miller of Fair Park (Class AAA) and Mike Audirsch of Morgan City (Class AA) and that the Louisiana all-state quarterbacks in 1966 were Butch Duhe of Holy Cross (Class AAA) and Steve Keller of Hahnville (Class AA).
↑"All-SWAC Selections". Clarion Ledger. December 11, 1969. p.3 (sports) – via Newspapers.com. (1969 all-SWAC team: Marvin Weeks of Alcorn was the pick at quarterback)
↑"Five TSU Gridders Named All-SWAC". The Houston Chronicle. December 17, 1971. p.4 (section 8) – via Newspapers.com. (1971 all-SWAC team: Sylvester Collins of Jackson State was the pick at quarterback)
↑"Alcorn Tabbed Top Choice In SWAC". The Clarion Ledger. September 5, 1971. p.29 (football section) – via Newspapers.com.(Jackson State quarterback Sylvester Collins in 1970 led the SWAC in passing yards and total offense yards)
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