Really 3 coaches all of whom were hired or affiliated with the Carolyn Meyers Presidency. In 2013 the alumni was shocked to see Rick Comegy fired. Most of us did not want that. But lets talk about it lets start with hire one Harold Jackson (2014) hired under AD Vivian Fuller. Harold Jackson never had the track record of a winning coach and was hired based on relationships and the fact that he was a former JSU alum NFL player who gained most of his stardom in the 1970's. One of the promises and mistakes that Harold Jackson did was try to recruit Mississippi ONLY first. The problem with that was, he didn't have the connections nor the relationships to recruit the type of talent JSU needed to win games let alone a SWAC Championship. The theory was to get as many athletes who were from Mississipppi (Jackson in particular) to come to JSU. That would also help us in season ticket holders. One of the reasons they claim Rick Comegy was fired was because he didn't recruit as much locally as he should have. The problem with this is that if a student athlete does not want to come to JSU and you have not established a strong relationship with the local coaches to get them to come to JSU, then you have to recruit elsewhere and by the time Harold Jackson discovered that it was too late. People clown him because of his age but that wasn't the main reason for his shortcomings. Coupled with the fact that some of Comegy's key players had lead us to the SWAC championship in 2013 had just graduated.
Then we move on to Tony Hughes (2015) the recruiting "magnate" for Mississippi State hired under AD Wheeler Brown. Tony Hughes was another mistake given the fact that he had NEVER been a head coach and most of his specialty was in recruiting. Tony Hughes was so valued at MSU that Dan Mullens did not want him to leave but supported his choice. The theory was with Tony Hughes to use his recruiting power to bring some of that Mississippi talent to JSU. Now to his credit he did bring some talent to JSU but still not the type of talent nor staff to get JSU out of a loosing slump. Him being a good recruiter for Mississippi State is a lot different and and easier sell than being a head coach or recruiter for JSU or any other HBCU for that matter. Its a lot easier to sell a student a promising package to play for a school like Mississippi State that has all of the things required to set them up for success than it is JSU. That Mississippi State type talent never came to JSU and was not going to come and everyone saw that. Tony Hughes was also rubbing the fans the wrong way with his angry responses and antics to fans who questioned his coaching skills during press conferences. He also made a terrible TERRIBLE hire with Hal Mumme who tried to implement his "Air Raid" fiasco with our offense that was nowhere NEAR able to execute it. Hale saw the writing on the wall and quit. And after the 2018 loss to Southern that was the end for the Tony Hughes era.
Then we move on to his successor John Hendricks. Coach Hendricks basically FELL into the head coaching position. I even think it caught him by surprise. When he took over for the rest of the 2018 season things took a drastic turn for us and we ended up winning the rest of the games ending with a loss to Alcorn. We really thought we had turned a corner and things were about to take shape except one thing had changed we had a NEW AD Ashley Robinson. Now it was up to him to correct things or not rock the boat during his first year as AD. My theory is that Ashley wanted to cut down on the negative press for JSU for the time being so he named John Hendricks the head coach for the 2019 season. You have to remember JSU had been in the press for a number of thing from the firing of Vivian Fuller, the resignation of Carolyn Meyers and the financial trouble JSU was in. We didnt need ANYMORE negative press plus that would give some stability to guys on the team. After the 2019 season when it looked like more of the same it was time to make a change.
Now here we are anticipating a new coach under a totally new Jackson State administration and Athletic director. Whether this will be a New Day for JSU time will tell but what I know for sure is that the people at the top who were responsible for the mis-management of JSU football for the past 7 years are now G-O-N-E!!