Cal does not just need a new football coach. It needs a spark. It needs a direction. It needs a program builder who can reconnect the team to its alumni, reset the culture, and give the Bears an identity in a rebuilt ACC. DeSean Jackson checks every one of those boxes and brings something Cal has not had in years. Undeniable belief.
What Jackson did at Delaware State was not a rebuild. It was a resurrection. In one year he took a 1–11 program and turned it into an 8–4 team that played for the MEAC championship. The Hornets posted the largest win improvement in all of FCS football, and Jackson has been named an Eddie Robinson Award finalist. That honor goes to the national FCS Coach of the Year. It is national validation that his rise is real.
More importantly, he changed the program’s heartbeat. Jackson explained on the MEAC coaches call that his philosophy begins with people, not plays. Be where your feet are, he told reporters. It is the same message he gives his players. We cannot get caught up in the chaos of the noise.
When he was asked about his coaching aspirations, Jackson did not dodge the question. He gave one of the clearest windows into who he is and how he sees his future. Obviously I would love to take it bigger if I could, he said. That is everybody’s dream and everybody’s envision as well too. It was sincere, not self promoting. He paired that ambition with gratitude. I am definitely appreciative of this opportunity where I am at. HBCU is always going to hold a special place in my heart. Then he added the line that matters for any program looking at him. If my destiny and my road is somewhere, who knows. Hey man, we will get to that when that time is being. Jackson did not rush the moment. He simply acknowledged the truth. Right now man, like I said, I am just excited about where we are at and what we have accomplished very very fast.
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That humility is paired with a deep conviction about his ability to lead. I played at a high level and had a lot of success, he said. This is my first year coaching, but that does not take away from the years I had success playing. I just speak from my experience and what I have been through. He is honest about the journey and firm in the principles that carried him from Los Angeles to Berkeley to a long NFL career.
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But nothing defines him more than the way he pours into his players. Jackson returned repeatedly to one theme. His players needed love, structure, honesty, and belief. These young men believe and trust in us, he said. They are willing to run through a brick wall for us. That level of buy in does not happen by accident. It happens when players know their coach sees them, respects them, and pushes them toward something greater than football.
Cal needs that. It needs a unifier and a motivator. It needs a face of the program who can recruit the Bay Area, energize the fan base, and bring back the swagger of the Marshawn Lynch, Aaron Rodgers, and DeSean Jackson era. It needs someone the players will follow and the alumni will rally behind.
Cal needs a builder. Cal needs a believer. Cal needs a Berkeley legend.
Cal needs DeSean Jackson.
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