By T. SCOTT BOATRIGHT, Lincoln Parish Journal
GRAMBLING – Grambling State’s new head football coach won’t have to be shown his way around campus. Veteran assistant Mickey Joseph, a New Orleans native and former star quarterback at Nebraska, has been on the Tigers’ staff before.
GSU has scheduled a 10 a.m. press conference today to announce its new coach. Sunday, sources close to the program said that selection will be Joseph, who was receivers coach and special teams coordinator at Grambling on Broderick Fobbs’ initial staff in 2014-15, and then worked at Louisiana Tech and LSU.
Grambling went 16-8 in Joseph’s two seasons there, winning the Southwestern Athletic Conference West Division title in 2015, helping Fobbs pull off one of the more remarkable turnarounds in Division I football following the 2013 season included a player strike to culminate the low ebb in the program’s history.
Joseph, 55, was on the LSU staff as wide receivers coach when the Tigers won the 2019 national championship, mentoring current NFL stars Ja’Marr Chase (Cincinnati) and Justin Jefferson (Minnesota), and Parkway High product Terrace Marshall Jr. (Carolina).
Joseph was most recently assistant head coach and then interim coach at Nebraska for the last nine games of the 2022 season. He did not coach in 2023.
He reportedly was under consideration for the vacant head coaching posts at Grambling’s Southwestern Athletic Conference arch-rival, Southern, and also at another SWAC school, Texas Southern.
SI.com’s Kyle T. Mosley reported Sunday night Joseph’s offensive coordinator will be recently-fired Southern head coach Eric Dooley, who was very successful as offensive coordinator on Fobbs’ Grambling’s staff until getting the Prairie View A&M head coaching post in 2018. Dooley and Joseph worked together at Grambling, and the Tigers were 39-11 overall and won the 2016 Black college national championship with Dooley calling plays.
Joseph, who was running backs coach on Skip Holtz’ staff at Louisiana Tech in 2016, was wide receivers coach for Ed Orgeron at LSU from 2017-2021, serving as assistant head coach from 2020-21.
He has experience at two more Historically Black College and University (HBCU) institutions. Joseph served as assistant coach at Oklahoma’s Langston University from 2008-11 before taking over head coaching duties and going 13-7 in 2011-12. Joseph then was receivers coach, assistant head coach and special teams coordinator at Alcorn State in 2013.
A native of Marrerro who was a phenomenal player at Archbishop Shaw High School, Joseph was a standout quarterback when Nebraska ranked among college football’s elite under Tom Osborne, but injuries curtailed his career. After getting started in coaching, he worked at Tulane and Nicholls State.
Grambling’s post opened when Hue Jackson was fired following his second season, which ended at 5-6 after a Bayou Classic loss to Southern. Jackson was 3-8 in his first year with the Tigers.
Contact Scott at tscottboatright@gmail.com