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Demetric Jackson has been hired as Fort White's new head coach. He previously spent 14 seasons in charge of the Indians from 2007-2020. (FILE)
FORT WHITE — The coaching carousel in Columbia County continues spinning back in time.
Just three weeks after Brian Allen returned to Columbia High, Demetric Jackson is back in charge at Fort White. Jackson is returning as the Indians’ head coach to replace Lee Dorsett after he resigned suddenly last Wednesday following one season.
Jackson spent 14 seasons coaching the Indians before leaving to coach Columbia in 2021, where he spent two seasons before also suddenly resigning in January. His return brings back a winning pedigree to the program, which he led the playoffs in 12 of his 14 seasons while compiling a 90-61 record.
That stretch included three district titles and four trips to the regional finals. Jackson admits he was on the fence about taking the job, but his youngest son Jayden, who will be a sophomore next year, convinced him to coach one more time.
Just like his older brother DJ, Jayden is also a quarterback that will learn under his father. The first Jackson combo won back-to-back district titles in 2015 and 2016, reaching the regional finals in both seasons.
“My son made the comment, ‘oh, you can coach DJ but you don’t want to coach me?’” Jackson said. “So that kind of put some things in perspective, like ‘OK, I’ve had the chance to coach my daughter (Rykia) in a number of sports and here I’ve got a chance to coach Jayden.’ He was on the varsity (at Columbia) but it was a backup role and he didn’t really got a chance to play. I never really got to hone on on his skill. When he presented that to me, it was like man, he really wants me to coach so I better try it.
“He really wants me to coach him, so that sealed the deal. It kind of revived the renewed energy under it.”
With Jackson, Fort White finds stability at coach that hasn’t been there since he left. The Indians went with interim co-head coaches Roy Harden and Ken Snider in 2021 before turning to Dorsett this past fall.
For Fort White principal Keith Couey, hiring Jackson back was a no-brainer.
“He knows everything about Fort White. He belongs there,” Couey said. “It means a lot to us that he was able to take it like this and he’s willing to come back. He does bring stability. You could see it in the kids’ faces. He went to address the team and told me, ‘I did leave you two years ago but I went to try something. I had to try something. I just had to know, and now I’m glad to be back home.’ He gave a good speech to the kids.”
Jackson left Columbia two months ago despite leading the program to the Class 3S state semifinals, which was the program’s first trip to the Final Four since 2015. Columbia won back-to-back district titles in Jackson’s two seasons at CHS with a record of 15-9.
This past season was full of highlights, starting with a second straight district title. Columbia later squeaked by Pensacola 17-15 in the Region 1-3S semifinals before beating Choctawhatchee 20-14 in overtime to win the regional championship.
Although the Tigers fell to eventual state champion Lake Wales in the state semifinals, it was one of the best seasons in school history. His departure caught people by surprise as a result, and Jackson even said at the time that he wasn’t even sure he’d coach again, saying “there may be opportunities later on, but right now I think I’m done coaching, period.”
Well, the right opportunity came calling. His son stayed in his ear too.
“I always thought I was a good coach and thought I could do some things to win, but I also don’t want to be the coach that sticks around longer than he should and do it where he’s not reaching the players and isn’t beneficial to the players and the program,” Jackson said. “So I thought at that point I had reached that. I thought I had taken Fort White as far as I could. That’s one reason I left to go to CHS and we had a great run at CHS, so I felt good about that and was content. I didn’t have to coach anymore. I didn’t want to feel like I was just out there and I felt it was time to go into something else and I thought administration was a great opportunity now.
“But you’ve always got that itch in you to coach. That’s part of who I am, and when my son said that I had to give it a shot.”
Jackson says he’s currently working on putting a staff together. He’s keeping Snider on as the defensive coordinator — who worked with Jackson the first 14 seasons at Fort White — while also retaining offensive line coach Jonathan Dupree and John Perry as the running backs coach.
Isiah Phillips, who was previously worked with Jackson the first go-round at Fort White, will also join the staff as the receivers coach after spending the past two seasons with Jackson at Columbia. Jackson is still finalizing the rest of the staff, one he hopes can help take the Indians further in the playoffs than they’ve ever gone before before he calls it quits for good.
“This may be the tail end,” Jackson admitted. “I may have two to three years at the most so at some point you’ve got to know this is your last hurrah so you’ve got to make the most of it. I felt good knowing that if I retired and quit coaching I took my alma mater to the Final Four. That was always a good feeling knowing that if I never coached another down, we made it to the Final Four and did some great things at Columbia. Now you want to make sure you work just as hard or harder to take the school that I’ve coached for 14 years (there). You don’t want the bitter taste of not being successful, so that competitive nature in me wants to make sure we give them everything we have to take this team to heights they haven’t been to.”