Bowling Green head football coach Scot Loeffler announced Wednesday the hiring of Derrick Jackson as the secondary coach and defensive pass game coordinator.
Jackson comes to BGSU after spending four seasons at Northern Illinois as the associate head coach, co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach.
Jackson replaces Eric Lewis (defensive coordinator/defensive backs) on staff who left in January for Navy where he is the secondary coach. Loeffler has also named Steve Morrison and Sammy Lawanson co-defensive coordinators.
Morrison will continue to coach the inside linebackers and Lawanson will continue to coach the outside linebackers. Morrison has been tabbed to call the defense. Julian Campenni has been named assistant head coach. He continues to be the defensive run coordinator and defensive line coach.
“Derrick Jackson is a seasoned veteran coach with 24 years of experience at the collegiate level,” said Loeffler. “He has a wealth experience not just at the “Power-5” level, but within the Mid-American Conference.
“Derek knows what it takes to win a championship in the league, and he will provide an immediate impact on our secondary. An Ohio native, we are excited to welcome Derrick and his family to Bowling Green State University.”
Jackson said, “My family and I are ecstatic about the opportunity to join Coach Loeffler, his football staff, and the Bowling Green Football Family at a time where the program is in position to compete for MAC Championships.
“I’m looking forward to beginning the next chapter of my football coaching career at a place where you can impact and inspire student-athletes to be the best version of themselves on a daily basis.
“It feels awesome to be back in the state of Ohio because it is truly home for me and my family. Exciting times are on the horizon for Bowling Green football.”
Coaching veteran
Jackson, a 24-year collegiate coaching veteran whose résumé includes stints at Purdue, Wake Forest, Michigan State, Syracuse and NIU. He joined the Northern Illinois football coaching staff as associate head coach, defensive coordinator and safeties coach in 2019.
Under his defensive leadership at NIU, three Huskies earned All-MAC honors in NIU’s 2021 MAC Championship season. Freshman safety C.J. Brown earned first-team accolades after leading NIU with 109 tackles. Linebacker Lance Deveaux and cornerback Jordan Gandy were placed on the third team.
Jackson, who previously worked at NIU as the Huskies’ defensive tackles coach in 2005, returned to DeKalb after spending two seasons as cornerbacks coach and defensive recruiting coordinator at Purdue (2017-18), helping the Boilermakers to a pair of bowl appearances, including a 38-35 victory over Arizona in the 2017 Foster Farms Bowl.
At Purdue in 2017, the Boilermakers’ defense ranked in the top 30 in the country in scoring defense (24th) and rushing defense (29th), a marked improvement from the previous year when Purdue ranked 117th and 115th, respectively, in those categories. During his tenure in West Lafayette, four different cornerbacks earned All-Big Ten honors.
At Wake Forest from 2012-16, as outside linebackers (2012), defensive backs (2013) and cornerbacks (2014-16) coach, the defense showed similar improvements.
The Demon Deacons ranked in the Top 40 in the nation in total defense in 2013, ‘14 and ‘15, and Wake Forest won the 2016 Military Bowl behind a scoring defense that ranked 23rd nationally.
During his time coaching the WFU defensive backs, six of his players earned All-ACC honors, three played in post-season all-star games and cornerback Kevin Johnson was a first-round draft pick by the Houston Texans in the 2015 NFL Draft.
Jackson, a native of Cincinnati, coached the defensive line at Rice in 2011 and at Akron in 2010. From 2007-09, he was defensive line coach at Syracuse, and served as co-defensive coordinator in 2008.
His pupils at Syracuse included defensive tackle Arthur Jones, a three-time All-Big East selection and 2009 third-team All-American, and Freshman All-American defensive end Chandler Jones. Both Arthur Jones (5th round, Baltimore Ravens, 2010) and Chandler Jones (1st round, New England Patriots, 2012) went on to be selected in the NFL Draft.
Before working at Syracuse, Jackson spent the 2006 campaign as defensive line coach at Michigan State. The Spartans limited the opposition to eight rushing touchdowns that season.
Jackson’s first stint at NIU came in 2005 under head coach Joe Novak, when he served as defensive line coach on the staff that led the Huskies to a 7-5 record and its first MAC Championship game. That season, Jackson coached first-team All-MAC selection Quince Holman.
Prior to NIU, Jackson spent the 2003 and 2004 seasons at Eastern Illinois as defensive line coach and was the defensive ends coach at Army in 2001 and 2002. He began his coaching career at West Georgia as tight ends coach in 1999 and 2000.
As a young coach, he spent two summers as part of the NFL Coaching Fellowship program with the Miami Dolphins (2001) and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2002).
A four-year letterwinner at Duke as a defensive back, Jackson started 40 consecutive games and finished his career as the eighth-leading tackler in school history.
He was named the team’s most outstanding defensive back twice and was a member of the Blue Devils’ 1989 Atlantic Coast Conference co-championship and All-American Bowl team.
He earned his bachelor’s degree in history from Duke in 1993. Jackson and his wife, Renae, are the parents of twins, daughter Alana Mae and son Dakota John. Renae, also a Duke graduate, was a standout long jumper.
