Stanley Jackson has resigned as Brainerd High School's head football coach after just one season. Jackson, who was in his second stint as Panthers coach, said he had agreed to take over last spring with plans to only coach the 2021 season.
After Tyrus Ward stepped down following an 8-5 finish in 2020 to become the head coach at Tyner Academy - a job he later resigned from to join the staff at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga - Jackson was promoted in late April to head coach after working as an assistant for the Panthers.
"I hadn't planned on being a head coach again, but after Tyrus stepped down and the program was in a pinch, I said I would take it over to help the kids," Jackson said. "I am at the point in my career where I feel like I can do more as an assistant because I still enjoy working with kids and I feel like that's still my calling.
"But it takes so much more time when you're the head coach instead of an assistant. Stepping down now allows me to be a better dad, a better husband, a better uncle and just a better all-around person for my family who needs me to be around more."
Jackson, who also coaches the girls' basketball program at Brainerd and previously coached the track team, was the Panthers head football coach from 2010 to 2012 and later worked as an assistant at Boyd Buchanan and Notre Dame.
The Panthers finished 3-7 last season.
"They need to hear a new voice at Brainerd," Jackson added. "I love the kids at Brainerd and this community but sometimes you just need to recharge your battery in a different atmosphere so this should be a good mental break for me too."
Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293. Follow him on Twitter @StephenHargis