Tremaine Jackson calls out Texas coaches group over Prairie View omission

Prairie View A&M head coach Tremaine Jackson delivered a blunt HBCU football message to the Texas High School Coaches Association on Tuesday, July 21. He questioned why members of his staff did not speak at the organization’s annual Coaching School.

In a video posted on social media, Jackson said he felt Prairie View A&M’s program, coaches and players had been disrespected. The second-year Panthers coach made clear that remaining silent was not an option.

“I normally don’t do like videos and all that stuff, but I had to,” Jackson said. “I just couldn’t sit and sit on my hands and feel like our program had been disrespected.”

Jackson praised the THSCA Coaching School as a “phenomenal event” and said Texas sets the standard for High School football. His issue centered on which college coaches received invitations to present football clinics.

According to Jackson, he learned that invitations were based on results from the previous season. If that was the standard, he argued, Prairie View A&M assistants, coordinators and position coaches should have been included.

Jackson points to Prairie View’s championship season

Prairie View finished 10-4 in Jackson’s first season, won the 2025 SWAC championship and reached the Celebration Bowl for the first time.

Jackson noted that Prairie View was the only Texas school to play for a national championship, regardless of the Panthers’ eventual loss to South Carolina State.

He also pointed to Prairie View’s offensive and defensive production. Jackson said some invited coaches represented units that ranked well behind the Panthers statistically.

“Why weren’t they selected? Why weren’t they invited?” Jackson asked.

Tremaine Jackson then moved beyond résumés and statistics. He said Prairie View was overlooked because its football does not receive the same respect as other programs across Texas.

“You don’t respect our ball,” Jackson said. “I’m getting about tired of that.”

Jackson referenced what he called the state’s “good old boy network,” then defended the quality of HBCU football at Prairie View.

“We play real ball,” he said. “We coach real ball. We recruit real football players.”

The message carried extra weight because Prairie View enters 2026 as the defending SWAC champion. Tremaine Jackson earned SWAC Coach of the Year honors after leading the Panthers to their first 10-win season since 1963.

“We will not sit on our hands and be disrespected anymore,” Jackson said. “We should have been there. They should have been there. They earned it.”

Jackson’s message was not a request for symbolic HBCU inclusion. It was a demand that a championship staff receive recognition on merit in a room filled with Texas High School coaches.