Bo Hardegree, who grew up in Jackson, is honored for his accomplishments as a professional and college football coach and his success as a high school and college athlete.
A star quarterback and state-champion tennis player at Jackson Central-Merry High School, Hardegree signed a football scholarship with the University of Tennessee in 2003. After graduation in 2007, he was a student assistant coach at UT, a graduate assistant at Duke, and an assistant coach at LSU before going to the pros.
Hardegree, 40, began his coaching career in the National Football League in 2014 with the Denver Broncos and has coached with the Chicago Bears, Miami Dolphins, New York Jets, New England Patriots, Las Vegas Raiders and Tennessee Titans, where he is presently the quarterbacks coach.
“I had a great foundation in Jackson, and a lot of good people helped me get to this point in my career,” Hardegree said. “It’s all about opportunities and making sure you are ready for those opportunities when they come along.”
The son of Jim and Adair Hardegree, Bo was born in Union City while his father was an assistant football coach at Tennessee Martin. The family moved to Jackson in 1986.
Hardegree’s football career began at Tigrett Middle School, where he played quarterback for Coach Randy Franks on an undefeated team. Hardegree played quarterback at North Side High his freshman year and at JCM three years, all under his father, who was head coach at those schools.
His senior season at JCM, the 6-foot-5 Hardegree was co-captain and completed 63 percent of his passes, throwing for 23 touchdowns and 1,869 yards. The Cougars were unbeaten in regular-season play and advanced to the state semifinals. Hardegree was first team All-State and All-West State and Region 7-5A’s most valuable player. He had a 21-4 record as a starting quarterback in high school and passed for 3,586 yards and 41 touchdowns.
He also had a stellar tennis career in high school, losing only twice in singles in four years. He won the state Class AAA singles championship as a junior and finished second in doubles as a freshman. He was highly ranked in the South by USTA. After his senior football season at Tennessee, he joined UT’s tennis team late and was unbeaten in singles and doubles at the No. 3 position in the regular season.
Hardegree was on the All-SEC Academic Team all four years at Tennessee, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in exercise science and had a 3.9 GPA. He intended to go to medical school and be an orthopedic surgeon, but UT assistant head coach and offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe asked him to try coaching.
“I did, and it was like, ‘Wow, I kind of like this,’” Hardegree said. “I think Coach Cutcliffe saw a lot of drive in me. I asked the right questions in meetings and showed that I was always prepared and knew what was going on.”
After working as a student assistant for the Vols, he went with Cutcliffe to Duke in 2008 as a graduate assistant coach. He earned his master’s degree in liberal arts at Duke, where he had a 3.85 GPA.
“I was still thinking about med school if I decided I didn’t like coaching,” Hardegree said. “But situations and opportunities happened for me, and I knew I wanted to stay in it.”
After three seasons at Duke, he joined LSU’s staff under former Tennessee defensive coordinator John Chavis, who was defensive coordinator for Les Miles at LSU. Hardegree worked with the defense his first year and the offense for two years.
He was 29 and decided to interview for an opening with the Denver Broncos, where Peyton Manning was quarterback in 2014. Adam Gase was Denver’s offensive coordinator, and he interviewed Hardegree.
“His preparation, work ethic and intelligence were above any other candidate that we interviewed for our quality control coaching position,” Gase said. “That was the start of my relationship with Bo … He represents everything good about the coaching profession.”
Hardegree was offered a job to remain at Denver in 2015, when Manning and the Broncos won the Super Bowl. But he chose to be loyal to Gase and followed him to the Chicago Bears for a season and then to Miami, where Gase was named head coach. Hardegree was his quarterbacks coach three years. And when Gase became head coach of the New York Jets, Hardegree joined him as an offensive assistant two seasons.
In 2021, Hardegree got a call from the New England Patriots to join Bill Belichick’s staff as quarterbacks coach and work with rookie Mac Jones, who led all rookie QBs in passings yards and touchdowns that season.
In 2022, Hardegree was hired as quarterbacks coach for the Las Vegas Raiders. He was suddenly promoted to offensive coordinator in 2023 when the Raiders fired their general manager, head coach and offensive coordinator after a 3-5 start.
Hardegree promptly put together a 5-4 record as a play caller and was 3-1 in the division. Highlights included a franchise-record for points scored in a game with a 63-21 win over the Chargers, and a Christmas Day upset of the Chiefs, 20-14, at Kansas City. The Chiefs have not lost at home since that game.
In 2024, when good friend Brian Callahan became head coach of the Tennessee Titans, Hardegree agreed to be his quarterbacks coach.
“It was a chance to join my home-state team and be around family for a change,” Hardegree said. “We have a lot of work to do, but we’re addressing all of the issues and waiting to see what happens in the April draft.”
Hardegree has been married to Lauren Hardegree eight years. She is a radiologist from Miami. They have a 3-year-old daughter, Isabella, and are expecting a baby boy in June. His brother Bill Hardegree, a former USJ and Tennessee Martin quarterback, still resides in the Jackson area practicing law.
The 39th Jackson-Madison County Sports Hall of Fame Banquet will be held at the Carl Perkins Civic Center, 6:30 p.m., Thursday, April 10.
For tickets and reservations for the Jackson-Madison County Sports Hall of Fame event, call Beth Sedberry (731) 616-8558.
(PHOTO: Bo Hardegree)
