Former Oakland Raiders Coach Hue Jackson Named Offensive Coordinator For Cincinnati Bengals

Jan 5, 2014; Cincinnati, OH, USA; Cincinnati Bengals running backs coach Hue Jackson before the 2013 AFC wild card playoff football game against the San Diego Chargers at Paul Brown Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Shortly after the Washington Redskins named Jay Gruden as their new head coach on Thursday, the Cincinnati Bengals didn’t wait long to replace him, naming former Oakland Raiders coach Hue Jackson as the new offensive coordinator.

Jackson coached the Raiders for one season in 2011 and was 8-8 before being fired at season’s end.

He told ESPN’s Josina Anderson he’s pleased with the opportunity.

"“I would hope more than anything it says a lot about this organization,” Jackson said. “When I left the Raiders nobody really gave me an opportunity to coach. Between Marvin Lewis and the Brown family they were the ones to give me an opportunity. I have to respect how they brought me in. Now that Jay has done a great job and is moving on to Washington they asked me to run the offense and to do what I do. I’m pretty excited about it.”"

Jackson, 48, was running backs coach for the Bengals last season after joining their staff in 2012 as secondary and assistant special teams coach. He was offensive coordinator for the Raiders under Tom Cable in 2010 before being promoted to replace Cable.

He was a college quarterback at the University of the Pacific in Stockton in 1985-86 and threw for 2,544 yards and 19 touchdowns in two seasons.

He began his coaching career at UOP in 1987 as a grad assistant and spent two more seasons (1988-89) as a full-time assistant. He went on to be an assistant at Cal State Fullerton in 1990-91 and coached with the London Monarchs in the old World League of American Football in 1991-92.

He returned to the college ranks, serving four years as an assistant at Arizona State before landing his first coordinator job under Steve Mariucci at Cal in 1996. He left after one season and was offensive coordinator at USC from 1997-2000 under both John Robinson and Paul Hackett.

Jackson then moved onto the NFL, serving as an assistant with the Redskins from 2001-02 before becoming offensive coordinator in 2003 under Steve Spurrier.

His first stint in Cincinnati was as wide receivers coach from 2004-06 and then he was offensive coordinator for Bobby Petrino and interim coach Emmitt Thomas with the Atlanta Falcons in 2007, moving on to the Baltimore Ravens as quarterbacks coach in 2008-09 before coming to Oakland.