Oakland is set to announce Jackson as its new coach at a press conference scheduled for 1:15 p.m. today in the Bay Area.
Jackson, who was the Vaqueros' signal caller from 1983-84 and was an All-Western State Conference selection, replaces Tom Cable, whose option wasn't picked up by Oakland after the Raiders finished 8-8 and in third place in the American Football Conference's West Division behind the Kansas City Chiefs and San Diego Chargers.
Under Jackson, the Raiders showed signs of improvement. Jackson was brought in nearly a year ago to take over the play-calling duties from Cable and transition an offense that had slumped in recent seasons. Oakland scored more than twice as many points in 2010 than in 2009, leading to the Raiders avoiding their eighth losing season in a row.
Led by quarterback Jason Campbell, running back Darren McFadden and rookie wide receiver Jacoby Ford, the Raiders placed sixth in the league in scoring with 410 points.
"That's why I came to the Raiders, was to improve, but we didn't improve fast enough," Jackson told the Associated Press late in the season. "We expect to be challenging for the playoffs, challenging for our division year in and year out, and we're not getting that done, so, to me, that's a disappointment. There's either first place or there's last place, and there's no in between."
Jackson becomes the second former Vaquero football player to be elevated to the head coaching ranks. Andy Reid, who played at Glendale college from 1976-77, has been the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles since 1999 and led the Eagles to a division championship this season.
