BROOKINGS, S.D. (KELO) — Dan Jackson played his college football for SDSU from 2003-2005. He joined the Jackrabbit coaching staff as a graduate assistant in 2012.
That began a run of various coaching positions with SDSU including corner backs coach, recruiting coordinator, specials team coordinator and assistant head coach.
Despite being part of the coaching staff in many ways, Jackson was still eager to some day lead a program.
“It’s been my dream to be a head coach,” Jackson said. “This is not something new to me. The day that I got into the coaching profession, I knew that I wanted to lead young men.”
Jackson is a well ventured traveler, having coached at Northern Illinois, Vanderbilt, Idaho and SDSU. That experience has helped him to grow as a coach.
“I will leave nothing to chance every day. I will leave nothing to chance for this program. I’m going to make a difference,” Jackson said. “I will make a difference in every kids life in this program. I will do every task as if it’s my last play.”
“I think in the end, it was Dan’s experience over the past five or six years and really going away and growing,” Sell said. “It was fascinating to see his growth from five years ago to today.”
Dan inherits a program with a lot of recent success, however more than 20 players have entered the transfer portal and most of the staff has left for Washington State.
“Guys come and go from programs. We have talent. You need to have talent to win football games, but I do still believe that it’s a sport that when you’re unified and play as a team, you’ll be able to accomplish your goals and have success,” Jackson said.
College football continues to change and the happenings of the last two weeks has proven that for SDSU. However, coach Jackson is eager to meet the new challenges head on.
“There’s a new landscape of college football and those things can change, morph and move, but our standards will not change,” Jackson said. “Our goal will always be to win a national championship. Our goal will always be to be the best football team in the country.”
