Brent Eckley to retire as Jackson football coach

Brent Eckley, head football coach of the Jackson Indians since his first season in 2012, has announced his impending retirement at the end of the 2022-2023 school year.

Eckley compiled a record of 102-27 across 11 seasons as head coach at Jackson and led the Indians to two state championship games in 2019 and 2020. The Indians won their only state title in a 42-7 win over Platte County in 2020, and was ranked the #1 team in Missouri for all classes by Max Preps.

“We appreciate Coach Eckley’s time and dedication to building our football program the past 11 years and where it is today,” Jackson athletic director John Martin said in a statement.

Eckley has been named District Coach of the Year and Conference Coach of the Year numerous times. In 2020, he was named the 2020 Missouri Football Coaches Association Class 5 State Coach of the Year and the AP State Coach of the Year. He was recently inducted into the Missouri Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame this past December.

Eckley’s overall record is 203-59. His coaching career began in 1995 at Hickman Mills High School in Kansas City. Warrensburg then hired him in 1997 and Montgomery City in 2000, where he compiled the best record in the school’s history.

Eckley went to Union in 2005 and won five district championships before joining Jackson.