Lincoln names Jermaine Gales as football head coach

New Lincoln football coach Jermaine Gales (left) shakes hands with Lincoln athletic director Kevin Wilson on Monday, Nov. 29, 2022, during his introductory press conference at The LINC.
New Lincoln football coach Jermaine Gales (left) shakes hands with Lincoln athletic director Kevin Wilson on Monday, Nov. 29, 2022, during his introductory press conference at The LINC.

Jermaine Gales is ready to get to work.

Lincoln University introduced Gales as its new football head coach during a press conference Monday morning in the President's Suite at The Linc.

"I am genuinely excited about the team I am working with, I am genuinely excited about the team I am working for," Gales said. "Without further ado, I would like to get to work, if you guys will allow me to."

Gales comes to Jefferson City from Bluefield (W.Va.) State College, where the Big Blue reinstated football this fall after shutting down the program in 1980. He served as the associate head coach, offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Bluefield State, which finished the 2021 season with a 4-3 record.

"We were able to win four games with 95 percent freshmen," Gales said.

This will be Gales' first time as a head coach in a coaching career that has spanned 19 seasons. He takes over the Blue Tigers from Malik Hoskins, who was fired earlier this month after compiling a 1-22 record in three seasons as head coach at Lincoln.

"When we set out on this critical hire, we wanted this process to be timely, efficient, thorough and inclusive," said Kevin Wilson, Lincoln's vice president of advancement, athletics and campus recreation.

"We wanted a guy with the tools to help build something, in spite of the limited resources here."

Early in his introduction, Gales thanked Wilson "for believing that my vision, my mindset, my glass-half-full approach to life is what Lincoln University needs at this point in time."

Gales emphasized academics will be a top priority for the Blue Tiger football team during his tenure.

"This is my mindset: winning has nothing to do with X's and O's," he said. "We're going to win by doing the little things before we even touch the grass.

"I'm not here to promise you a number of wins. What I am here to promise you is that we're going to establish a culture that's going to be here long after I'm gone."

Prior to Bluefield State, Gales served as the offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach at Arkansas-Pine Bluff from 2018-20, and was promoted to associate head coach in 2020; the wide receivers coach at North Carolina Central from 2016-17; the wide receivers coach and kick return coordinator at Mars Hill (N.C.) from 2013-15 and 2006-09; the associate head coach and offensive coordinator at Saint Augustine's (N.C.) from 2010-12; and as a graduate assistant and wide receivers coach at his alma mater, Southern Arkansas, from 2003-05.

Wilson also worked at North Carolina Central, but he never crossed paths with Gales until the past few weeks during the interview process.

"Jerry Mack, who was the head coach there, did give a strong endorsement of the type of guy he was," Wilson said, "and that was enough for me."

Gales played college football for Mt. San Antonio College, in addition to Southern Arkansas. He thanked former Southern Arkansas football head coach Steve Quinn for getting him into coaching.

"I was at home in California, managing hotels, when I got a call one day," Gales said.

Gales also showed appreciation to the head coaches he worked under, including Bluefield State head coach Tony Coaxum.

"They have shown me the way, and all the young men that are going to work under me, I will show the way," Gales said.

Lincoln had the smallest roster of any MIAA football team during the 2021 season with just 62 players. More than half those players were freshmen.

"At the end of the day, you want to have a good core group of young men who are going to be your high school kids, who are going to be here for four years," Gales said. "That's where your culture is going to be set."

Lincoln's 2021 roster featured just one Mid-Missouri player: punter/kicker Clayton Winkler, a California High School graduate.

"What we've got to do as an institution, as an organization, is create a product, put it on the field and make people want to come," Gales said.

When it comes to recruiting, Gales said he plans to take a similar approach to what he used in the past year at Bluefield State. The Big Blue announced in August 2020 it would bring back the football program for the following season, and in a year's time, the football team fielded a roster of 67 players this fall.

Gales said the Bluefield State coaching staff "persevered through all the no's" during the recruiting process.

"You have to take the salesman's approach," Gales said. "It's going to take you 100 no's to get one yes. We're going to have to get 1 million no's so that we can fill the roster."

Gales said the next step is to hire a coaching staff, as recruiting for next year's team begins to pick up the pace.

"We're going to go through the hiring process, we're going to get the best fit for what we're trying to accomplish," he said.

Gales understands the challenges in front of him, as he becomes Lincoln's fifth head coach since the start of the 2016 season. The Blue Tigers have not had a winning season since 1972, and they have not won more than four games in a season since the football program was reinstated in 2000.

"We've already got several young men who know how to play football," Gales said. "We've already got the pieces in place for the community to be involved. We've already got a commitment from a number of people who want to see this thing be successful.

"My job is easy. My job is to put the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle together so you can see the big picture. It's not a challenge, it's an opportunity."