Hud Jackson will step down as head football coach at the University of Arkansas at Monticello at the end of this season, his 15th at the helm, but will remain the school’s athletic director.
Jackson issued a statement on social media Sunday evening about his future, and the university issued a news release 21 minutes later. The move comes a day after Jackson’s Boll Weevils lost 40-7 to Northwestern Oklahoma State in Alva, Okla. UAM (2-8 overall and Great American), which has one game remaining at Southern Arkansas University on Saturday, has lost five straight and is tied for ninth place with two other teams in the 12-team NCAA Division II conference.
“This is a tough day, but also a good one,” Jackson said in beginning his announcement. “Football has been my life for 57 years. I’ve been a coach’s kid, a player and a coach – it’s all I’ve ever known. And I wouldn’t trade a minute of it.”
Jackson’s father Sonny was head coach at Nicholls State and McNeese State, both in Louisiana, in the 1980s.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
A message from Head Coach Hud Jackson.#EatEmUp pic.twitter.com/GWXY35upg2
— UAM Football (@WeevilFootball) November 9, 2025
Jackson, who turns 58 on Dec. 14, is the only active dual football head coach-athletic director in the Great American. He was named interim athletic director in July 2021 and had the interim tag removed in March 2022.
He is the second-winningest coach in Weevils' history behind Tommy Barnes (69 wins from 1985-96), but is also 50-103 at UAM. He was hired on his birthday in 2010 after serving as associate head coach and director of football operations at the University of Central Arkansas. His 2018 Weevils went to the Corsicana (Texas) Bowl, the program's first postseason appearance since the 1993 team's NAIA semifinal run, but lost to Emporia State of Kansas to finish 6-6, the winningest record under Jackson.
"UAM is in my blood," Jackson wrote. "When I took this job, a lot of people told me I was crazy – that it couldn't be done. But they were wrong. We've made real progress here – improvements that will pay off for years to come.
"And now, I believe it's time for new leadership, new energy, and new ideas to help this program take the next step – to win, and to do so consistently. This program deserves that."
Jackson's teams have produced five All-Americans awarded by multiple organizations – kicker Jamie McGee and defensive lineman Calvin Ursin in 2013, wide receiver Jalen Tolliver and cornerback Jeremy Johnson in 2017, and tight end DeAndre Washington in 2018. Jackson also has coached 56 all-conference players, two nominees for the Cliff Harris Award for the small-college defensive player of the year, one Great American Offensive Player of the Year (Tolliver in 2017) and Freshman of the Year (quarterback Demilon Brown in 2019) and 55 conference all-academic team members.
UAM is also seeing growth in the improvement of its athletic facilities under Jackson's purview as AD.
The university converted its old indoor swimming pool into the $1.3 million Kenneth H. Hunt Athletic Performance Center, named after a Pine Bluff native and White Hall High School graduate who played for the Weevils in the late 1970s and was a chief donor for the project. The weight room and athletic training area was funded entirely by private gifts, according to UAM.
That proved to be the catalyst, UAM said, for the athletic department's Legacy Campaign, which has raised more than $2 million for multiple projects. Among those already completed are the installation of lights on the baseball and softball fields and the renovation of locker rooms for multiple sports including football. Renovations to Steelman Field House, the basketball and volleyball venue that opened in 1959, have started, with plans for Willis "Convoy" Leslie Cotton Boll Stadium (opened in 1935) yet to be announced.
The university called Jackson in its release "one of the most successful leaders in the position in UAM history."
"Hud's historic success in fundraising and his visionary approach to facility improvements have transformed UAM Athletics, strengthening the pride we all share in this program," UAM Chancellor Peggy Doss said. "His ability to see what's possible and then make it happen has elevated our entire athletics department. Now, as he brings his full focus and energy to the role of director of athletics, I am proud to support him and excited for the positive impact he will have across all of UAM Athletics."
Doss added that Jackson often says his greatest goal is for student-athletes to leave UAM "not just as successful graduates but as good human beings who make a positive difference in the world. ... With his leadership, vision and heart for our students and community, I have no doubt the future of UAM Athletics is brighter than ever."
Jackson thanked former UAM Chancellor Jack Lassiter for hiring him, Doss for her "trust," "support" and "belief" in him, and friends for their listening, encouraging and "being there." He also thanked his coaching staff and added he was proud of them.
"We changed a lot for the better, and I'm proud of that," Jackson wrote. "I have a great life, and I'm ready for the next chapter and I look forward to being the full-time Athletic Director here – helping make UAM Football and all of our athletics programs great. I'm excited to keep serving this university and to support the next leader of this program in every way I can.
"I will support the new leader of this program fully – because I love this place. Go Weevils."