Tremaine Jackson wants respect.
The outspoken Prairie View head coach said his program was disrespected after Panthers assistant coaches were not invited to the Texas High School Coaches Association Coaching School, arguing that the staff had earned recognition after an historic season.
Jackson said the issue was not with the event itself. He described the annual THSCA Coaching School as “phenomenal” and said it remains one of the best-run coaching events he has attended.
But he said the selection process for college representatives and clinic participants left out Prairie View A&M coaches who had proven themselves on the field.
“My issue was, why weren’t our coaches there?” Jackson said in a Facebook video. “We heard that coaches were invited based off of last year’s results.”
Jackson said that explanation did not sit right with him, given what Prairie View A&M accomplished during the season.
The Panthers won the SWAC championship and appeared in the Celebration Bowl, nearly winning the HBCU title. These accomplishments, Jackson said, should have led to Prairie View’s presence at the events among Texas’ FBS and FCS schools.
“We’re the only school in the state of Texas to play for a national championship,” he said. “Regardless of the result, we were the only school in this state to get there.”
Jackson said the Panthers’ staff deserved consideration because of the production they helped create. “Our assistant coaches, our coordinators, our position coaches did a phenomenal job,” Jackson said. “If that was the criteria, then somebody should have invited our assistant coaches.”
‘You don’t respect our ball’
Jackson also pushed back on what he sees as a broader pattern of disrespect toward Prairie View A&M and HBCU football.
“My issue with the THSCA coaches board that picks clinic speakers is you don’t respect our ball,” he claimed. “You don’t respect our ball because we’re historical black college.”
The Prairie View coach said he believes the snub reflected an outdated view of the program.
“You thought Prairie View was something that Prairie View A&M is not anymore,” Jackson said. “Prairie View A&M plays real ball. We play real ball. We coach real ball. We recruit real football players.”
For Jackson, the bigger issue is that success should open doors, not force another argument for inclusion. “We will not sit on our hands and be disrespected anymore,” he said. “If you wanted to give coaches in the room some more good stuff to hold on to and take back to their team, then you should have invited our coaches.”
Did someone at HBCU Sports reach out to the Texas High School Coaches Association to find out why the Prairie View football staff wasn’t invited to the coaching school? It would have been interesting to see their response in the story. The Texas organization owes Prairie View an answer. That’s a huge snub and a major issue that needs to be addressed, especially since Prairie View played for a national championship last season.