Prairie View A&M head coach Tremaine Jackson believes the SWAC is finally making the kind of move the Division I HBCU league should have made years ago.
The Prairie View A&M head coach addressed the issue after his team’s spring game and junior day. He used the moment to back the conference’s recent decision to move away from non-conference football games against teams outside NCAA Division I and Division II. For Jackson, that change is not controversial. It is overdue.
“I think the league is five years behind,” Jackson said. I think the league should have did that five years ago.”
That comment set the tone for the rest of his remarks. Jackson was blunt. He said the SWAC cannot keep calling itself a Division I conference while avoiding Division I-level challenges.
Prairie View is coming off a breakthrough 2025 season. The Panthers went 10-4. They won the SWAC title. They also reached the Celebration Bowl for the first time in school history. That success gives extra weight to Jackson’s words. He is not talking from the bottom of the standings. He is talking as the coach of a champion.
Tremaine Jackson rejects fear-based approach
Tremaine Jackson said he knows not everyone will agree with the new direction. He also made it clear that he does not respect the old mindset.
“And some people are going to complain about it though. I think that’s a losers mentality. I’m just telling you. Like, if you want to be elite, you got to play elite people.”
That line may be the clearest summary of his argument.
Jackson is pushing for a tougher standard across the SWAC. He believes strong programs should not fear strong opponents. He also believes those games help shape teams mentally as much as physically.
His comments line up with the way Prairie View is building its own schedule.
Prairie View’s first month will test that HBCU mindset
The first four games of Prairie View’s 2026 season are not soft. The Panthers open on Aug. 29 at Tarleton State. They then host Texas Southern in the Labor Day Classic on Sept. 6. After that, they travel to Baylor on Sept. 12. They return home on Sept. 19 to face Stephen F. Austin.
That is a demanding opening stretch. Jackson knows it.
“I think as long as we keep following Dr. McClelland — we’ll be fine,” Jackson said, referring to SWAC commissioner Charles McClelland.
He then pointed to Prairie View’s own schedule as proof that his program is willing to live by the standard he is preaching.
“If you want to be elite — you got to play elite people. We open up with the no. 3 team in the country. Then three weeks later we play the no. 6 team in the country on our level with Baylor in the mix of it and Texas Southern, which is a rival. That’s always a tough game. The first four weeks of our season are really tough. I wish we could play School of the Blind, and Mary Had A Little Lamb Chops. We don’t get those any more.”
SWAC shift fits Prairie View’s bigger goals
The SWAC’s scheduling change will not fully hit until 2027. But Jackson clearly sees it as a sign that the conference is thinking bigger.
That matters for Prairie View. It also matters for HBCU football as a whole.
Jackson is coaching like a man who believes the SWAC should stop protecting itself and start proving itself. After a championship season, he is not asking for easier roads. He is demanding a tougher one.
And in his view, that is exactly where an elite program belongs.