A “Help Wanted” sign hanging outside the office of newly hired N.C. Central football coach Jerry Mack probably wouldn’t attract the labor force he needs to handle business with the Eagles.
NCCU athletics director Ingrid Wicker-McCree announced the appointment of the former South Alabama wide receivers coach to the NCCU head job on Thursday. And he comes without a staff.
Often when schools hire active head football coaches, they bring many of their assistant coaches with them.
Since Mack was an assistant himself, he doesn’t have a staff to bring to Durham. He has to put one together, and it would not be out of the question for one or more of his former fellow South Alabama assistants to join him at NCCU.
Mack, 33, said he’s been getting recommendations about potential assistants who are worth vetting.
“And they might be right here in town. You just never know,” Mack said about the staff prospects. “I’ve got some guys on the back burner right now, but we’ll have it done by the first of the year.”
Mack’s new role makes him the third-youngest active Division I head coach, and he’s never been a head coach before, so he’s probably going to surround himself with older, more-seasoned coaches, Wicker-McCree said.
Wicker-McCree chose Mack after Dwayne Foster brought NCCU to a 5-7 finish as the team’s interim head coach, filling in for Henry Frazier III. Wicker-McCree fired Frazier in August. She said she had to do it because issues in his personal life were creating troubling headlines and stealing attention that belonged to the university’s students.
Mack’s appointment calls for him to make $180,000 annually for five years beginning Jan. 6.
Frazier was earning $225,000 a year. Foster was at $68,000 annually before getting bumped to $150,000 a year during his time as interim coach. READ FULL
