Hue Jackson Leads Grambling On Campus Clean-Up After Ed Reed's Ousting, Breaks Out Luxury Vehicles For Recruiting

While much of the conversation surrounding HBCUs continues to revolve around Deion Sanders, Ed Reed and Eddie George, former NFL head coach Hue Jackson is building something of his own in Louisiana. The 57-year-old, 35-year coaching veteran is at Grambling State.

He took over the Tigers program in 2021. They have not won more than six games since 2017, and went 3-8 in 2022.

Even still, Hue Jackson believes that his team is on the come-up.

To be successful in college football requires talent, obviously. Jackson has hit the recruiting trail hard and is pulling out all of the stops to get recruits to commit to Grambling.

The program has embraced "that's a them problem" as its tagline, in reference to a popular speech on social media. It goes as follows:

Look, you can't help it that you poppin' and they stoppin'. You can't help it that you packin' and they lackin'! You can't help it that you great and they late. You happy and they crappy. Ain't got nothin' to do with you! That's a them problem.

The tagline has been at the forefront of all of the Tigers' recruiting efforts. Especially as Jackson poses in his designer drip in front of luxury vehicles and Louis Vuitton luggage (in reference to Coach Prime's first speech at Colorado).

Grambling pulled out all of the stops for its most recent recruiting weekend.

While leading some of his prospective players around campus, a dripped-out Jackson was stopped by one of his players, who tried to get his head coach with a classic.

"How do you spell fat?" — "F A T"

"How do you spell her?" — "H E R"

"What does that spell when you put it together? — "FAT-HER" instead of "FATHER"

Jackson is too wise! He knew what was coming and hit his player with a curveball out of the gates.

Got 'em!

A head coach's role goes beyond football and fun.

While recruiting well, playing well, and having fun along the way is important to Jackson, he understands that his leadership goes beyond the field. He wants to build men, much like Sanders set out to do at Jackson State, George is doing at Tennessee State, and Reed tried to do at Bethune-Cookman.

The third of those three has been in the news a lot over the course of the last month. He accepted the job in Daytona Beach without a contract and went to work despite any binding agreement.

Upon arrival, Reed was frustrated with the state of B-CU's campus and made that abundantly clear on an expletive-laced Instagram livestream. He was let go a few days later and unleashed hell on the university over his ousting.

One of the big issues that Reed pointed to was the amount of trash on campus. The Pro Football Hall of Famer led a big trash clean-up with his players at B-CU before he was told that the school would not ratify his contract.

Over the weekend, Jackson did the same with his players at Grambling. He led them in prayer before they walked together for a campus clean-up.

His players were proud of their efforts, and Jackson made it clear that their purpose was greater than football. They are working to change a culture.

In the end, football is just a game. While wins and losses seem important now, and they are, Jackson wants his players to be more than athletes. He wants them to go out and be leaders in their communities, better husbands, better fathers, and better people.

But having fun along the way is just as important, like spelling "fat" as "p-h-a-t," breaking out the luxury vehicles and rocking an all-yellow designer jumpsuit.