By Jordan Long
The Colorado Mesa University Mavericks hired their next Head Football Coach. The job had been open since November 21st, 2019 when Colorado Mesa moved on from Russ Martin after 8 seasons.
Martin’s record with Colorado Mesa was 56-33. The Mavs took home 3 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) titles making the Division 2 playoffs once, 2016. They lost in the 1st- round to Texas A & M Commerce 34-23. They haven’t been back to the playoffs since. Colorado Mesa decided the program wasn’t going in the direction they hoped for and determined it was best to move on from Martin. They started a search for their next Head Football Coach.
On Monday, Colorado Mesa named Tremaine Jackson their next Head Football Coach. Jackson spent last year as the defensive line coach at Texas State. Texas State didn’t pressure the quarterbacks this season totaling 13 sacks, not an impressive number. Before taking the Texas State job, Jackson was the defensive coordinator at Abilene Christian University from 2017 to 2018.
His most successful stop in college football was with the University of Sioux Falls. Jackson started as the defensive line coach in 2013. In 2014 he was promoted to the defensive coordinator. He was in Sioux falls from 2013 to 2016. Sioux Falls made the Division 2 Football playoffs in 2015 and 2016.
This will be Jackson’s first-ever Head Coaching job. According to cmumavericks.com, Jackson said, “My family and I are very excited to join the Maverick family. I would like to thank President (Tim) Foster, Kris Mort, Bryan Rooks, and the entire search committee, especially chairman Sean McKinney, for giving me this opportunity to implement our vision at CMU. I look forward to getting into the community and working with the players to get the ship headed in the right direction.”
Colorado Mesa hopes Jackson can turn the program back to a winner. They have not won the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference since 2017 when they shared it with CSU-Pueblo.
Colorado Mesa is taking a gamble with Jackson. He doesn’t have head coaching experience. There could have been a better candidate out there who has been a head coach before. Colorado Mesa must be patient with him. Victories may not come early. The only way this won’t work is if Jackson isn’t able to win the RMAC Conference and Colorado Mesa misses the Division 2 playoffs every year. Then Colorado Mesa will be back to the drawing board looking for another Head Coach.
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