Judy Jackson has become the Vols' secret weapon in football recruiting

by John Clendenon

Third Saturday in September, fall of 2002, Neyland Stadium, 118,241 fans (one more than Michigan; retiring athletic director Doug Dickey's last move was to narrow stadium seats to six inches).

THE STREAK is at 9. The hated Gators are in town and their obnoxious fans have once again taken over The Strip. Earlier in the week, trash-talking Florida cornerback Robert Cromartie, a fifth-year senior, has called Tennessee quarterback Joey Matthews, another fifth-year senior, a wuss and vowed to cheap-shot him back to Sevierville at the first opportunity. Steve Spurrier is long gone—he and Cowboys' owner Jerry Jones are trading newspaper headlines in Dallas—but third-year coach Bobby Stoops has made sure the Gators are as cocky as ever. The more things change...

New Tennessee athletic director Philip Fulmer has had enough. In his first major decision as AD he has drawn to his hole card, the same one he used five years prior to salvage a good recruiting year. Not many people get the chance to name their successor, and Fulmer, not quite as conservative as his public image, decided to go a different route.

As John Ward blares, "It's football time in Tennessee!" new head coach Judy Jackson leads the Vols through the T. For the first time in 10 years, Tennessee is ready for Florida's mind games. As Jackson reaches the sideline, she shakes hands with David Keith, takes off her visor, and fires it to the turf. Across the way, Florida's Stoops is not amused.

Second Monday in February, 1998, Stokely Athletic Center, Office of Student Life, Room 301. Five days after national signing day for high school recruits.

For perhaps the first time in her adult life, Judy Jackson is almost speechless as she ponders the scenario with her as head coach. The fortysomething dynamo wheels in her chair and glares at her guest, fixing him with one of those don't-mess-with-my-head looks, and says, "That's kind of weird."

Okay.

"I'm an academic coach," she says later, re-emphasizing the point in case the visitor doesn't get it. "I'm in the same boat as a football coach, though, because I'm trying to get a win, trying to motivate."

Jackson is clearly enjoying her 15 minutes of fame. After 20 years behind the scenes, she has been outed with the UT football community at large—the legions of fans who know the oblong sphere is pumped, not stuffed—and that recruiting husky, speedy, young males out of high school is the lifeblood of the religion/sport in the South. First, the morning fishwrapper comes calling with a story the fourth Sunday in January identifying Jackson as the secret weapon in salvaging the Vols' 1998 recruiting effort. Panic had set in among the faithful when on-the-cum rival Georgia had spirited away Rodney Garner, the second-year assistant coach and Fulmer's ace recruiter who was responsible for attracting super studs like Jamal Lewis, Cosey Coleman, and Deon Grant—the state of Georgia's three best high school football players in the fall of 1996.

Fulmer, responsible for some of the most outstanding recruiting classes in UT history, wasn't about to let Garner's exit rain on the consistent parade of incoming talent. Taking a cue from Carmen Tegano, Jackson's boss in the Office of Student Life (the athletic department's academic support system), Fulmer decided to put Jackson on the road, making in-home visits with prized prospects. Fulmer, the traditional head coach/closer who makes the final pitch, and Jackson, the surprise guest, made quite a team.

"The idea to use Judy was basically a no-brainer," Tegano says. "We see things here as an opportunity, not a problem, and this was the perfect opportunity for someone to step up. Judy's never met a stranger, and she understands the team concept—she's a valuable asset."

Ordinarily, Jackson spends about 10 percent of her time on recruiting-related matters, filling prospects in on the academic support system, for instance, when they make their official campus visit. Her specialty is working with academic high-risk football players. Jackson's forte, though, is being a surrogate mother to the young men, away from home for the first time. In January, Jackson suddenly had to adjust to being away from home herself and, in Fulmer's view, she was an unqualified success. At his annual press conference to evaluate, in full spin control, the recruiting haul, the head coach made special mention of Jackson's efforts "as we rallied to sign a really good class."

"[Jackson's] a great communicator and a great ambassador," Fulmer said when the move was announced. "It just seemed like a natural fit to me. I got the best of both worlds."

He also got, by all accounts, a pioneer in college football recruiting. Academic advisors had made in-home visits before to help sell programs across the country, but none of them were women.

"It was a definite first; I've never come across anything like it in my eight years," says Bobby Burton, the highly respected Texas-based recruiting analyst who ranked UT's class seventh best in the country. "It's very prevalent for schools to use all of their resources, and male advisors have been used when coaching vacancies occurred."

Burton says Tennessee's class "would have been good regardless, but [Jackson] impacted it. She did her job as a recruiter. And she made a huge impact by helping land one of the great players [UT] wouldn't have gotten without her." That would be another Jackson—Bernard, a 6-foot-4-inch, 245-pound linebacker from Louisville St. Xavier who Burton ranked as the 20th best player in the nation and "one of the top three linebackers in the country."

Bernard says he had UT as his third choice behind Michigan and Kentucky before the home visit from Fulmer/Jackson. "It's very possible I wouldn't have gone to Tennessee if I hadn't met her," he admits. "She was very friendly, and she has all the right credentials. I think she'll be like another mother; that she'll be there for me."

But Jackson's visit did not sit well with many UK fans, according to Lexington Herald-Leader sports editor Gene Abell. "There are a lot of people up here who think Tennessee had an unfair advantage by using her; that they didn't abide by the spirit of recruiting rules."

It is the day after national signing day and Jackson has a touch of the flu when she appears on Mike Keith's Sports-Talk show and is introduced as "Coach Jackson." She is impressive as usual, regardless. Fulmer and her co-workers in the Office of Student Life have known about her immense talent for a long time, and they are clearly enjoying her coming-out party. And Jackson, no shrinking violet despite her rep as the ultimate team player, doesn't mind the publicity, although she tells an interviewer from the printed press on the Monday after, "This is it; no more media."

Her office wall is lined with autographed photos of UT football players she has counseled the last six years since joining Tegano's staff as associate director of academics ("I was RECRUITED!" she says, beaming). Jackson grew up on Chicago's South Side in Hyde Park—wasn't an athlete but followed the city's pro teams avidly. She attended the University of Illinois at Chicago, moved to Knoxville in 1971, worked at Knoxville College five years, then was a part-time employee/ student at UT, graduating in 1978 with a degree in marketing/education. She recruited—there's that word—for the College of Education before Tegano called in January 1992.

She has an open-door policy, and on this day linebacker Al Wilson almost breaks a visitor's bone with a crushing handshake. He does it with a smile, Jackson-style. Wilson dispensed with, Jackson moves on to the task at hand, the final interview. Piece of cake.

"The athletic department knew it was going to have to step it up after [Rodney] Garner left," she says. "We have to make adjustments all the time, like a coach at half-time. Sometimes a coach will call from on the road and have me call parents—we've been doing this for a number of years. Basically, I coordinate on-campus visits, the recruitment, academic part of it...give them a thumbnail sketch of our program."

Been there, done that. But this was different, wasn't it?

"When you work in athletics there are times you are going to be asked to play out of position—it was an exciting opportunity." Still, when Jackson got the word Fulmer wanted to make her a road warrior, her reaction was: "Pardon me, do what?" After passing a 40-question NCAA eligibility test on Wednesday morning, she hit the road with Fulmer the following Monday.

"Phillip and I made a great team—he makes people feel so comfortable. He started calling me Coach Jackson when he introduced me to my parents. The first house we visited was [defensive back] Tad Golden's in Georgia. By the time we left, they were overwhelmed by our program; we got a commitment. It was absolutely an awesome experience. Every parent, every household we visited was surprised. I was in the last two to three weeks of recruitment, and the parents and kids had known the coaches for a year. By the time I arrived, the parents had narrowed the process. They were worried about the support system. Their kids are a long ways from home and they want to feel they will be in good hands. Most of my parents are thinking their kids have little chance of making the NFL. Is he going to get a good education? Can I leave him in your hands? Will they have an opportunity for a better life? Parents are very concerned about kids blowing it."

The term people-person is overused, but Jackson is the real deal. As she talks about the athletes she counsels on a daily basis, she picks up the conversation pace, if that's possible.

"Players see me at practice and on the sidelines at games, and I can see their gratitude...I stand in the same spot when they make the pre-game walk, and if I'm not there—in the same position for the walk—players will ask, 'Where were you?' I'm an advocate for student athletes. I understand we have recruited this man—he didn't ask to come here. We owe them the opportunity to succeed. Our parents let us have their kids for four years, and they appreciate that we look out for them."

Joe Kent is the father of two sons Jackson has watched out for. The senior Kent is a physical education teacher at Alabama A&M, his alma mater in Huntsville. Son Joey is prepping for his second season with the Tennessee Oilers and Jermaine, another wide receiver, enrolled at UT last month. The father is a card-carrying member of the Judy Jackson Fan Club.

"When I first met her, she impressed me with her sincerity," Kent recalls. "When my wife and I went with Joey on our official visit, Judy gave us a card with her work and home number and she said call any time. I eventually felt really bad about it; that she must have regretted giving us that card. We really put it to good use. Joey had a 3.44 average in high school, but he had the normal adjustment problems. I remember he had a problem with a particular class. Judy encouraged him and helped get him through it. It would have been very difficult for Joey without her. He needed her guidance."

All of which begs the question: will Jackson ever join Fulmer full-time? Over Carmen Tegano's dead body. "[Fulmer] said it was a great idea this year," her boss says, tongue firmly implanted in cheek, "but I made it clear it was for recruiting only. If Judy went full-time with Fulmer, six to eight football players would flunk out immediately...because I would make sure they flunked out [in order] to get her back."