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Nathaniel Hackett is a student of the game. He was born into a football family, grew up around football players and coaches and watched and learned from his dad, Paul a 35-year veteran of the coaching ranks, everything the game had to offer. Football has always been a major part of his life.
And now, at age 25, he begins his career as a football coach at Stanford University.
Hackett has been at Stanford the past two seasons as an Assistant to the Offensive and Defensive Coordinators. But, when first year head coach Walt Harris took the job at Stanford, he hired Hackett on January 14, 2005, to be his specialists coach and recruiting coordinator. Hackett will oversee all aspects of the Cardinal's nationwide recruiting efforts as well as coach place-kickers, punters and snappers.
During the past two seasons, Hackett was a key assist to both the offensive and defensive coordinators. In December, 2004, Hackett accepted the position of linebackers coach at Western Michigan, but returned to Stanford once Harris offered him a position on his staff in January.
Born December 19, 1979 in Fullerton, California, when his dad was coaching at USC, Hackett's life can be chronicled by which team Paul was coaching. From berth through his first year, Hackett lived in Southern California while Paul was coaching at USC. From there, Paul coached with the Cleveland Browns for two years (Nathaniel was ages 2-3), then three years with the San Francisco 49ers from ages 4-6, followed by three years in Dallas with the Cowboys, ages 7-9.The next four years, ages 10-13, Hackett lived in Pittsburgh while his dad was the head coach at the University of Pittsburgh. That was followed by five years (ages 14-18) in Kansas City when Paul coached with the Chiefs. During the last year, Nathaniel had begun attending college at U.C. Davis.
Following his stint with the Chiefs, Paul went on to work at USC as the Trojans head coach, then the past four years as the offensive coordinator with the New York Jets. He is presently the quarterbacks coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
During his childhood, Hackett had the opportunity to be a ball boy for his dad's teams and get to know some of the greatest players and coaches in the game. The list includes Joe Montana, Tony Dorsett, Marcus Allen, Andre Rison, Derrick Thomas, Neil Smith and Curtis Martin, to name a few, as well as coaches Bill Walsh, Marty Schottenheimer, Tom Landry, Herman Edwards, Jon Gruden, Marvin Lewis and Norv Turner. Hackett was a ball boy for the Dallas Cowboys for one year, the Pitt Panthers for four years and four more years with the Kansas City Chiefs.
Hackett was a four-year letter-winner as a linebacker and a short and long snapper at U.C. Davis from 1999-2002. He helped the Aggies, one of the top programs in NCAA Division II, reach the playoffs each of his four seasons. The Aggies reached the quarterfinals in 1999 and 2002 and the semifinals in 2000 and 2001. During his four seasons, U.C. Davis had a combined record of 41-9, including a 10-2 record in '99, 12-1 in 2000, 10-3 in '01 and 9-3 in '02. Hackett won the George Belenis Award in 1998 as the team's Most Outstanding Redshirt, and the "Aggie Pride" Award in 2002 as a senior.
While at U.C. Davis, Hackett taught Hip Hop dance for two years and was the President of the Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity. He made his first foray into coaching during the spring of 2003 at U.C. Davis when was an assistant linebackers coach. Hackett is single and resides in Palo Alto.
Last Updated: July 7, 2005