Milestone year for Barron Collier football coach

It’s a milestone season for Barron Collier football because head coach Mark Jackson is celebrating ten years of leading the team.

Year in and year out, it’s the Cougars that keep Jackson going.

“They really are family to me, and I see how special they are, so watching these guys take off and be able to flourish this year is going to be fun. I’m excited for them,” Jackson said

One of the players is literally family to him. His son, Jace, is a junior offensive lineman.

“I’ve raised a whole bunch of kids; I feel like coaching football and having the kind of blessing to get a chance to coach him is kind of fun.”

Fun for the coach, at least; he told us he can be particularly hard on Jace, but it seems like Jace and his teammates can take it.

“I think our expectations should be high. We had a decent year last year. 8 and 3, made the playoffs. Throughout the summer a lot of people go on vacations. These guys went to work, and I’m proud of them for it,” Jackson said.

Jackson has big dreams for his decade team, but the most important of those dreams won’t come true at the end of the season.

“People always ask me, how’s the team? I’ll let you know in 10 years because the kind of husbands they are going to be, the kind of fathers they are going to be, the kind of employers and employees they are going to be, that’s going to tell me everything about this team,” Jackson said.

So, a decade in, his coaching strategy is the same. Tough love in high school to point them in the right direction in the future.

The Cougars host Immokalee in their home opener on August 30.