Valdosta State Football Head Coach Tremaine Jackson has been announced as the newest coach working with the Pittsburgh Steelers as part of the Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellowship. The news was tweeted out by the Valdosta State Football Twitter account.
The Bill Walsh fellowship was designed to increase the number of full-time minority head coaches at the NFL level, and all 32 clubs participate. The applicants must meet certain criteria including having been a former NFL player or have coaching experience at the high school, college or non-NFL professional leagues such as the XFL, CFL, etc. Coming from Valdosta State, an NCAA Division II school, Jackson obviously fits that bill.
Prior to taking over Valdosta State in 2022, Jackson was the Head Coach of the Colorado Mesa Mavericks in 2020 and 2021. After going 10-3 in two seasons at Colorado Mesa, he left for the Valdosta State job, where he led them to a 5-6 mark.
He also has experience coaching in the FBS, as he is the former defensive line coach at Texas State and USF. Jackson has also previously served as an intern with the Houston Texans and then-San Diego Chargers. He was also the defensive coordinator at FCS Abilene Christian from 2017-2018. He played college football at Texas Southern as a defensive lineman for two seasons. He graduated from the University of Houston in 2006.
Jackson’s expertise appears to be on the defensive side of the ball, and he’ll add another voice to help with a defensive line group that features returners Larry Ogunjobi and Cameron Heyward, but also has new additions in Armon Watts and Breidon Fehoko. While he isn’t a full-time staff member and will mostly be working with the team during training camp, Jackson is the fourth new staff member to join the Steelers this offseason alongside Offensive Assistant Glenn Thomas, Inside Linebackers Coach Aaron Curry and Defensive Quality Control Coach Jason Brooks.
