Jackson Free Press

As Alcorn State University celebrates a second SWAC Championship Game win and a spot in the first Celebration Bowl, the Braves' main rival, Jackson State University is beginning again. For the Tigers' newest coach, it took a while before he ascended to the top spot.

After more than 30 years as an assistant coach, Tony Hughes is finally a head coach. Hughes leaves Mississippi State University to take over a Jackson State program that has been rocky the last couple of seasons.

The program went from the steady hand of Rick Comegy to the Harold Jackson era that didn't last two full seasons. Jackson was fired in October after a 1-4 start, and Derrick McCall replaced him as the Tigers finished 3-8 in the 2015 season.

Hughes is a Mississippi native who started at football and track at Forest High School. He was a defensive back at St. Paul's College (1976-1977) and the University of Southern Mississippi (1977-1978).

While at USM, Hughes earned his bachelor's degree in sociology in 1980. After graduating, Hughes served in the U.S. Marines from 1981 to 1984 and received an honorable discharge.

After his stint in the Marines, Hughes returned to Southern Miss as a graduate assistant working with the defensive backs. In 1985, he earned a certificate of education in social studies.

Hughes began his coaching career at Philadelphia High School in 1985 before moving on to South Natchez High School from 1986 to 1987 to work with the defensive secondary. His next stop was at Hattiesburg High School from 1988 to 1991 as an offensive coordinator.

In 1992, Hughes broke into the college coaching ranks, working at the University of West Alabama from 1992 to 1993 with his main role being with the defensive secondary. From West Alabama, Hughes moved on to Hinds Community College in 2002 as defensive coordinator.

Hughes left Mississippi for a second time to become defensive backs coach at Louisiana Tech University in 2003 and moved to linebackers coach for the Bulldogs in 2004. He came to Mississippi to coach defensive backs from 2005 to 2006 at the University of Mississippi and moved to coaching tight ends in 2007 for the Rebels.

The Golden Eagles brought Hughes back home in 2008 to coach the secondary at Southern Miss. From 2009 until taking the head-coaching job at Jackson State, Hughes coached at Mississippi State as its safeties coach, recruiting coordinator and assistant head coach.

Jackson State is getting one of the best recruiters in the state in Hughes. Scouts.com, Rivals.com and 247sports.com have honored for his work as a recruiter.

Rivals.com was the most recent publication to honor Hughes, as he helped the Bulldogs sign five of the top six players in Mississippi earlier this year. His recruiting efforts the last seven years helped Mississippi State become the No. 1 ranked team in the country last season.

Hughes is also an active member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. He was the vice president of the Mississippi FCA Coaches Council in 1997 and president of the group in 1998. He was also a member of the Mississippi FCA State Board of Directors in 1999.

The 56-year-old Mississippi native has signed on to be with the Tigers for the next three years. Hughes is making his first coaching stop at a historically black college or university, but Jackson State is in his family, as his sister and brother are both went to the university. His wife, Marion, is from Meridian, Miss., and they have two sons, Jamison and Jay, who also played at Mississippi State.

The new head Tiger has wasted little time already recruiting for Jackson State. He got his first commitment in Justin Blue, who signed with JSU out of Southwest Mississippi Community College. It looks like Jackson State found a coach who wants the job and to be at Jackson State. He is already paying off by getting players to sign with the Tigers, and he has shown his commitment to recruiting in Mississippi.