Ted Jackson and other inductees will be inducted into the Pennsylvania State Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame on the night of the Big 33 football classic in Hershey.
The fiery head football coach began his coaching career as an assistant coach for several sports at both Coughlin and Meyers High Schools. He coached baseball at Meyers for 5 years, wrestling at Meyers and Coughlin for 13 years and football at Coughlin for 11 years. Ted took over the football program at Dallas High School in 1985 and built it into one of the most successful programs in Pennsylvania.
But in 2011, the Dallas school board opened his position and he wasn’t hired back as head football coach. Jackson left as the winningest coach in school history with an overall career record of 231-76-3. In 27 seasons his Mountaineer teams won 15 Wyoming Valley Conference titles, three District 2 titles, four Eastern Conference titles and the PIAA Class AA State Title in 1993. Coach Jackson produced undefeated regular seasons in 1994 and 2010 and his teams had a 24-game winning streak from 1993-1994. Ted is a 15-time Wyoming Valley Conference Coach of the Year. He was a Big 33 Game Assistant Coach in 1995 and led the East to a victory in 2001 as a head coach in the PSFCA East/West Game.
Coach Jackson was named Best Athletic Coach in the Back Mountain by the Dallas Post for 5 consecutive years, 2008-2012. He was also named Coach of the Decade by the Citizens Voice in 2010. He was inducted into the Luzerne County Sports Hall of Fame in 2011.
Most recently Coach Jackson served as an assistant coach at Misericordia University (Dallas, PA) for the 2012
season.
He retired from teaching in the Wilkes-Barre Area School District in 2008 after 35 years of service and then worked as an adjunct professor at Misericordia University.
Coach Jackson resides in Shavertown, PA with his wife Sandy. They have three children: Matthew, Jill and Ted Jr. and his wife Robin. Ted is also the proud grandfather of grandsons Max and Jared Jackson. “Coach Jackson would like to thank his family, friends, former players, assistant coaches and the Dallas community for their support and dedication throughout his coaching career, said Ted Jackson Jr.”
5 Responses
No doubt Teddy was and is a great coach. His only knock as far as I’m concerned is his relationship (or lack thereof) with the faculty and administration. He had athletes back in the 90’s who literally could have played anywhere but didn’t get the academic support required to get them where they belonged. I believe his ultimate demise at Dallas stemmed from this.
Rollie, I can bring a unique perspective to this discussion because I played for Jack Jones and Ron Rybak – the coach between Jones and Jackson. Two of my uncles played under Jones in the early 70s and my brother and son played for Jackson. I did not agree with everything Ted did or his conduct, but from Day 1 he was came close to being disciplined by Frank Galicki (principal, then superintendent) and former AD Jack Wolensky. However, Rollie, you are very much mistaken if you don’t think Jackson rebuilt that program. There were a few good teams from the school’s start in 1962 until he took over in 1985. He changed the entire philosophy of the program. There was never any discipline. For years, younger players had to be “slaves” to older players. Kids were locked in rooms as the busses left for away games. No one wanted to play and it showed. Jackson finished with far more wins than all of the previous Dallas coaches COMBINED. I have been there when dozens of former players came back to the school through the years and couldn’t believe it was the same program. You can argue Ted had his faults. He did and he was far from perfect. But to say he “maintained” the program and that Dallas always expected to win is just plain naive. My two uncles never played on a Dallas team with more than 7 wins. My class won SIX games in four years and my brother’s team won TWO games in two seasons before Jackson took over. That’s far from a program that was expected to win.
The guy has earned it. One losing season in 30 years is pretty darn good. Not gonna disagree with Rollie though. He was in a upper middle class school district so the talent was almost always there, that’s a big advantage. Also, his tirades got tiring, during the Valley WEst game in 2011 I watched him take his own son by the collar and shake him. There’s really no excuse for that. I will give him a pass on the Tunkhannock incident from a couple years ago though, I think he was just covering for what the kids did. Rick, I know you have a man crush on Teddy but do you have to make it obvious?
Hey Rollie – classy as always. The guy is being honored for something he devoted almost 30 years of his life to and you feel the need to rip him using a fake name on a comment board. I cannot wait until you get inducted into the Anonymous Internet Poster Hall of Fame so I can rip you.
Do some research before you open your mouth. Yes Jack Jones had a few good teams, especially the one in 1972. But in the years prior to Coach Jackson taking over Dallas was terrible. That includes a 1-10 or 0-11 season right before Jackson got the job. So 231 wins later, I would certainly call that “building” the program.
There were no playoffs, no non-conference games and no classification system in the 1970s. So comparing the 2 eras is ridiculous.
Expected to win annually at Dallas? Absolutely correct. And there was one reason for that. Ted Jackson. I have seen him get 8, 9 or 10 wins out of teams that had very little size, speed or talent.
Also – he was never suspended for anything related to his behavior on the field. It would be nice if anything you said was factual. But you seem to know him pretty well since you mention he got his “antics” under control. Care to elaborate on that??
I don’t get where he “built” Dallas. Dallas Area is in a very affluent desirable location. They always have at or near the best talent in the area. Additionally, Dallas has a history of winning that goes well back to Coach Jones into the 1970’s…and perhaps earlier. I would say Teddy’s a very good football coach. But he “maintained”. They are “expected” to win at Dallas…annually.
This is obviously a puff piece. He’s been a terror on the sidelines…suspended at least once and maybe more for his antics on the sidelines. He had quite a reputation for abusing officials. (Though in his last couple of years he got that under control.) I believe he was also suspended another time for an incident which decorum prevents detailing here.
His longevity was due to his record. Just “Teddy being Teddy”. If his teams didn’t perform there’s no way any school board would have put up with his antics for so long.