Eastern’s football program has hired half of the assistant coaches it needs to fill the vacancies left this by coaches who departed this off season.

The second of four open coaching positions was filled Tuesday, when Eastern approved former Army coach Derrick Jackson to be take over as defensive lines coach.

Jackson was a restricted earnings coach at Army, where he trained the defensive ends for the last two years. He replaces Charlie Partridge, who left to coach at Pittsburgh after one season with the Panthers.

Eastern head football coach Bob Spoo felt it was necessary for the next defensive line coach to have Division I-A experience. After interviewing Jackson, Spoo felt he had found the man he needed to tutor the future defensive linemen at Eastern.

“He is a sharp, classy and knowledgeable person,” Spoo said. “He can communicate well with his players.”

However when dealing with coaches who do not have much experience and have filled various assistant positions, what others have to say has a big impact on whether or not a coach receives a different job.

When coaches do not hold high profile positions Eastern’s athletic department was forced to do more research about possible candidates.

“That’s how word of mouth works,” Spoo said. “You get an idea of a person, and everybody had positive things to say about him when we checked.”

Jackson’s introduction as the new defensive line coach followed the hiring of new offensive coordinator Jon Carr from Tennessee State. Carr replaces Roy Wittke who left to coach at Arkansas after 13 seasons at Eastern.

Jackson may not have held any high profile positions before coming to Eastern, but he played under Steve Spurrier at Duke. Jackson was a starting safety for all four years he played with the Blue Demons, when Spurrier was starting his coaching career.

After hiring two new coaches, the Panthers have to find two more to fill voids left by two-year offensive line coach Steve Farmer and two-year defensive secondary coach Edmund Jones.

The large turnover does not surprise Spoo.

“I anticipate coaches leaving every year, but I think (the players) will like (Jackson) and get along,” Spoo said.