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NEGAUNEE — The Negaunee Public School board accepted the resignation of Paul Jacobson as head varsity football coach at its December school board meeting on Monday night.

Jacobson had been the Miners’ head coach since 2000, leading the Miners to the Michigan High School Athletic Association playoffs 21 times in his 25-year career leading the team.

Under his and his staff’s leadership, Jacobson won more than 70% of Negaunee’s games during his tenure with an overall record of 191-79.

Negaunee head coach Paul Jacobson, right, gives receiver Eli VanBuren a hug on the sidelines after VanBuren's second-quarter touchdown reception in an MHSAA Division 6 football playoff game played against Menominee at Miners Field in Negaunee on Nov. 5, 2022. (Photo courtesy Daryl T. Jarvinen)

“What stands out more than the wins are the relationships he has built with our student athletes; ones that will last a lifetime,” the Negaunee Public Schools said in a statement on its Facebook website. “The sacrifices Coach Jake has made from August to November (and the other eight months of off-season training) have not gone unnoticed.”

The Miners won the MHSAA Division 6 state championship in his third year, 2002, and finished as state runners-up in the same division in his third-to-last year, 2022.

His teams won a total of 28 postseason games in his tenure.

Back in 2000, he made the transition from legendary head coach Dick Koski a seamless one as he had played varsity for Koski in the 1985 and 1986 seasons. Koski had been the Miners’ coach since 1968.

Jacobson was just inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Michigan High School Football Coaches Association in June.

Negaunee head coach Paul Jacobson, right, congratulates quarterback Ty Jacobson for leading a Miners’ touchdown drive in the first quarter of a West PAC game played against Houghton at Miner Stadium in Negaunee on Oct. 18. Walking next to Ty Jacobson is his father and Negaunee assistant coach Kevin Jacobson, Paul Jacobson’s brother. (Photo courtesy Daryl T. Jarvinen)

In that induction, it was noted that after Jacobson’s graduation from Negaunee in 1987, he played as an offensive lineman at Central Michigan, earning Mid-American Conference all-league honors in 1990, the year the Chippewas won the conference championship and played in the California Raisin Bowl.

He remained in the CMU area for several years, working as an assistant football coach and teaching school in Mount Pleasant for four years, but returned to his hometown in 1997 to take the same two jobs — teaching and coaching — at Negaunee.

Upon Koski’s retirement in 2000, Jacobson was elevated from assistant coach to the head coaching position at age 30, adding on duties as athletic director, too.

Not only does he have an overall winning percentage of .707, he has a playoff mark of .583 and regular season rate of .734.

Information compiled by Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.