Northwestern has hired its athletic director.
The university made it official with a statement on Thursday announcing that Mark Jackson, formerly of Villanova, will succeed Dr. Derrick Gragg as their next athletic director.
The news was first reported on Wednesday by ESPN's Pete Thamel.
Jackson will start his new job on Sept. 1, initially splitting time between Evanston and Philadelphia's suburbs as he wraps up his role with the other Wildcats. He will take over for Gragg, who has been officially reassigned to a strategic role as of Jackson's hire, and Pat Goss, who has been assisting the department this summer as an interim senior deputy athletic director since the hiring search was announced.
Jackson, 51, has been Villanova's AD since 2015 and oversaw two national titles in men's basketball, in 2016 and 2018. Despite coming from a basketball-focused athletic program with an FCS football team, Jackson has a long and varied job history that includes stops in the NFL and USC, giving him strong credentials in football, as well.
After four years playing cornerback at Division III Colby College in Maine, Jackson worked as a grad assistant for Trinity College in 1995 and 1996 while pursuing a master's degree. His next step was with the New England Patriots, where he worked under Pete Carroll as a special teams assistant, and then Bill Belichick.
“Mark combines a unique mix of success and experience both in professional and collegiate sports as well as a sharp understanding of the expectations of elite academic profiles,” Belichick said. “I look forward to Mark’s impact with Northwestern.”
When Carroll took the USC job in 2001, Jackson followed him, becoming the Trojans' director of football administration and assistant athletic director.
“Mark Jackson is a game changer for Northwestern,” Carroll said in the university's statement. “He will lead with strength and creativity, and he brings great background and proven leadership.”
Jackson was hired away from USC by Syracuse to serve as a senior associate athletic director in 2005. He had a brief stint in the private sector working as a vice president for A2 Holdings, then left for the then-Oakland Raiders to serve as the team's director of football development in 2007 and 2008, when Lane Kiffin was the head coach.
Jackson returned to USC as a senior associate athletic director before being hired to lead Villanova's department in 2015.
Though Jackson has been out of the Power Four football game for nearly a decade, he has worked with programs that have been to the mountain top in both key revenue-driving sports. He oversaw a football program at USC that won national titles in 2003 and 2004, and a basketball program that won two national titles within the last decade at Villanova.
Under Jackson's leadership, Villanova completed a $65 million renovation of their basketball facility in 2018, reopening the William B. Finneran Pavilion. Villanova's staff directory references his key role in a $300 million drive at USC.
Northwestern's major capital projects are in good shape. The Wildcats' basketball home, Welsh-Ryan Arena, and football and other sports' practice facility, Walter Athletics Center, were both opened in 2018 for a total of $380 million. The new Ryan Field is currently being rebuilt and set to open in 2026 after an $800 million+ investment.
So even though the stage is already set, Jackson is poised to hit the ground running as a fundraiser. His stints at USC and Villanova, as well as the year at Syracuse, prove his experience working for private schools in major conferences and in large metropolitan areas.
After a rocky four-year tenure under Gragg filled with controversy, lawsuits and scandal, Northwestern seems to have hired an experienced administrator who can execute the role of athletic director across the board and stabilize the ship at a crucial moment in college athletics.
