William C. "W.C." Gorden
Member, Board of Advisors

William C. “W.C.” Gorden was named Jackson State's head football coach in 1977 and remained in that position until 1991 becoming the most successful coach in the program’s history. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2008. During his tenure at Jackson State, the Tigers compiled an overall record of 119-48-5 and claimed eight Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) championships between 1980 and 1990. Gorden was named SWAC coach of the year six times, racked up a SWAC mark of 76-17, was 43-31-5 in non-conference games, and took the Tigers to nine NCAA Division 1-AA playoff games. Under Gorden, Jackson State won a conference-record 28 consecutive SWAC games from 1985 to 1989.

Also, because of his hard-nosed academic oversight policy, Jackson State had the SWAC’s highest graduation rate. Coach Gorden is a native of Nashville, Tennessee and attended Tennessee State University where he was an All-Mid-Western Conference wide receiver as well as a four-year letterman in baseball as a first baseman. Gorden is married to Jackson native Vivian Howard Gorden and has two sons, Craig and Robin.