Jackson football coach Brent Eckley to retire at end of 2022-23 school year

Jackson football coach Brent Eckley announced his retirement after spending 11 seasons at the helm of the Indians football program.

Since taking over in 2012 Eckley’s teams have won 7 conference championships, 6 district championships and a state championship in 2020.

“I did not intend to retire and be done coaching, but there was an opportunity that presented itself,” Eckley said. “It’s been unbelievably difficult to consider not being the coach at Jackson.”

On Thursday morning the Har-Ber Wildcats, a high school located in Springdale, Arkansas, announced via Twitter that Eckley would be the new head coach of their football program.

“I’m really excited about the challenge,” Eckley said. “The way I have perceived this over the last 15 or 20 years, is that the further north you go the less emphasis there is on athletics and the further south you go there’s more emphasis on athletics. You look at some of the southern states and the way they do things, it’s very much based on a college model. When you look at it as a football coach, this is what has made Jackson so special because this is a football town. When you go to a state that is south of here there’s a lot of places that are football places, and Arkansas is one of those.”

The culture built with Jackson football was based on high expectations with everyone involved, and Eckley credited his coaching staff and the parents for making it an easy process.

“I tried to have high expectations for myself and I tried to have high expectations for everybody in our program,” Eckley said. “The best thing you can say about me is that I showed up to work. I have those expectations for myself, as well as everyone around us. It’s not like we had to do a culture overhaul. I think we had people here that appreciate hard work and have appreciated hard work the whole time I’ve been here, before I was here and certainly after I leave.”

Eckley has also prepared numerous players that went on to play at the collegiate level and have success.

“One of the best things I hear from the guys when they go is that they’ll come back and they’ll say there’s nothing that we’re doing that’s tougher than what we did in high school,” Eckley said. “I think that’s a huge compliment to how we’re able to run our program.”

In the 2020 season, the Indians went 14-0, winning the Class 5 State Title over Platte County. The 2020 team was also ranked number one in the state of Missouri across all classes.

“I don’t feel like Coach Eckley won a state championship,” Eckley said. “I feel like Jackson won a state championship, and it wasn’t just the 2020 Jackson team. It was the Jackson 2019 team, it was the Jackson 1994 team and it was the Jackson 1933 team. It was everybody that contributed to our success and to our tradition and our history. It was ours, it wasn’t any one person.”

One of the things Eckley will remember most about the 2020 team is the way they competed.

“I loved them and the way they approached things,” Eckley said. “When we practiced, we practiced. When we were in the weight room, they wanted to compete to show that they were the best. All of those times that we were together training, preparing and going through that process, that’s what I remember.”

Eckley said that without his wife, Sherene and their four children, none of this would be possible.

“I would be lost without my wife,” Eckley said. “My wife hasn’t missed a game in 22 years. I’ve been able to chase my dream and have fun while she’s done the work. Without the family it takes away the luster of what I’m doing.”

In December of 2022 Eckley was inducted into the Missouri Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

“What made that special was the fact my family was there,” Eckley said. “Two of my daughters were able to introduce me and all of the kids got a chance to put their two cents worth into the introduction.”

Eckley finishes his career as head coach of the Jackson Indians with a record of 102-27. The Indians were conference champions in 2013, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022. They won the district championship in 2013, 2014, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021. Jackson also made appearances in the state quarterfinals under Eckley in 2013, 2014, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021. In 2019, 2020 and 2021 the Indians made appearances in the state semifinal, while in 2019 the Indians fell short in the state championship, they were able to become state champions in 2020.