JONESBORO, AR — With about 100 people behind him, Jerry Mack looked straight ahead and watched Arkansas State run out of its tunnel on to the Centennial Bank Stadium field.
Twenty-five years ago, he'd first run out of the tunnel on to that same field. Now he was positioned at the opposite end, ready to lead a different team. It was a 24-hour period with plenty of reunions for Mack, a Memphis native who spent the night in the Bluff City with his team before making the hourlong bus journey to Jonesboro.
The weekend was a reminder that some things never change, like Mack's alma mater or his affinity for his hometown. But it was also a reminder that they can change rapidly in college football. Nine months ago, Mack was celebrating a remarkable conference
title in his first year asKennesaw State's coach. A few hours after he ran on to the field Sept. 26 at Arkansas State, he was coming to terms with the fact that his team had just fallen to 1-3.
"Our hopes and dreams are not done," Mack said after the game. "There's a lot more football left in the season."
For Mack, considered a rising star in the coaching industry, the rest of the season will probably be critical for his future.
How Jerry Mack built his coaching career
Mack, 45, grew up in Memphis and played at Whitehaven under former (and now current) coach Stan Collins. And everyone around him knows it.
"You talk to anybody from Memphis, they're always going to be prideful," Mack told The Commercial Appeal in an interview a day before Kennesaw State's game against Arkansas State. "Wherever they go, they want people to know that they're from Memphis."
A talented receiver, he began his career at Jackson State before transferring to Arkansas State. His coaching career began shortly after that, and he ended up back in Memphis as the Tigers' receivers coach in 2011. That was the last year of the Larry Porter era, the last year before Justin Fuente arrived and turned the Memphis program into one of the most consistent winning programs in the country.
Mack bounced around, had a successful stint as the head coach of FCS North Carolina Central before becoming the offensive coordinator at Rice. Coach Josh Heupel hired him as part of his initial staff at Tennessee, with Mack's ability to recruit the Memphis area as a key selling point.
In 2022, the Vols beat Clemson in the Orange Bowl. At a staff party to celebrate the win, Mack pulled 27-year-old offensive analyst Mitch Militello aside.
“He comes up to me, and he’s like, ‘I’m going to be a head coach again soon. I want you to be my offensive coordinator,' " Militello said. "I’m 27 at the time. And I’m like, ‘Man, you’re (expletive) crazy.’ ”
A year later, Mack left to be the running backs coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars. Militello wondered if his chance had come and gone. Mack was in the mix for multiple jobs over the next couple of years, including at UTEP and Charlotte. But he was sold on Kennesaw State in 2024, telling Militello that it was a "gold mine" because of its proximity to key recruiting in the Atlanta area and its room for growth just after moving up from the FCS level.
In 2024, Mack arrived in Kennesaw with Militello — who had never even been a position coach before — as his offensive coordinator and Marc Mattioli — who had spent the prior four years coaching American football in Italy and France — as his defensive coordinator. The Owls had gone 2-10 the year before.
They won the Conference USA title the next season.
Inside Kennesaw State's 2025 title season
Before Mack even had his introductory news conference at Kennesaw State, he met with the team and asked every player to write down three things they liked and three things they didn't about how the program had been operating.
He learned about a large group of players who wanted to stay because they loved the area, loved the school, loved the pride that came with being part of a program that was only a year into its transition to FBS. They didn't like the level of investment in the program, or the resources available for nutrition and recovery.
"We all knew the odds were going to be against us," Mack said.
It wasn't as simple as just leaning into those things, obviously. It helped that Amari Odom developed from a backup quarterback into a star. But the story at Kennesaw State in 2025 was also about consistency.
To people who've worked with him, Mack stands out as a head coach because of his calm demeanor. When the Owls scored a touchdown against Arkansas State, Mack pumps his fist almost to himself as the rest of the sideline springs on to the field to celebrate. When he does want something to get across, everyone listens.
“There’s times where the true Memphis comes out," Militello said. "Which is fun. But he’s very calm with his coaches. He’s very consistent in that way. You know exactly what you’re going to get.”
Sometimes it's just simple.
“He’s the best, man," Mattioli said. "He’s, like, really really good at being a head coach.”
All of that led the Owls to the title game at Jacksonville State, and then Odom led them on a heroic fourth-quarter drive that included a conversion after facing third-and-27 and then another on fourth-and-13. The title led to plenty of interest in Mack, who won Conference USA coach of the year and was a finalist for the Memphis job that ultimately went to Charles Huff.
It also meant lots of roster turnover, with Odom going to Syracuse and being replaced in a sort of trade with Rickie Collins.
How Kennesaw State is building toward rest of 2026 season
The roster hasn't jelled right away. The Owls have lost three straight, with winnable games against Georgia State and Arkansas State sandwiched around a loss at Tennessee. They had every chance to win against the Red Wolves, but Daniel Kinney missed a 32-yard field goal that would have tied the game late in the fourth quarter of an eventual 17-14 loss.
Mack still has confidence. He knows exactly what to expect when conference play starts on Oct. 7 against Jacksonville State, and he has seen improvement over the past few weeks, especially on third downs. Only time will tell if Collins and the rest of the offense can come together the way last year's team did.
Whatever happens, he's doing it with plenty of Memphis connections. Mattioli is a Rhodes College alum. There are several Memphis-area players on the Kennesaw State roster, including former Tigers defensive back Cam Miller.
Mack recruited him to Tennessee out of Memphis Academy of Health Sciences in 2022. When Miller entered the portal after the 2025 season, there was only one place to go.
"It wasn't really a recruitment," Miller said. "As soon as he called, I already knew I was coming here."
Mack didn't have time to do much in Memphis the night before the game. He spent some time with family at the team hotel and ordered some Crumpy's wings. He noticed all of the new buildings on the drive from the airport, how everything had changed over the years. He did the same in Jonesboro, where he spent three years.
But there was no time for reflection after that. Only time to watch film.
Reach sports writer Jonah Dylan at jonah.dylan@commercialappeal.com or on X @thejonahdylan.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Inside Memphis native Jerry Mack's process at Kennesaw State football | Exclusive
