JACKSON — The McNair name has long been synonymous with Alcorn State football. Now, one of its bearers is the leader of the Reservation’s tribe.

Alcorn State on Tuesday promoted Fred McNair to the position of head football coach. McNair spent the past three seasons as Alcorn’s assistant head coach and quarterbacks coach, was named interim head coach over the weekend when Jay Hopson was hired by Southern Miss, and then got the job on a full-time basis less than 24 hours before national signing day.

“I always envisioned becoming a head coach. I’ve been a high school head coach before, but if I’m going to be a college head coach this is where I want to be at because I love it here at Alcorn State University,” McNair said. “It means a lot to my family, my friends, everybody that backed me through this process. I think they did a good job of doing their homework and making me become that guy. It means the world to me.”

This is the first college head coaching job for McNair, but in a lot of ways it’s what he’s been preparing for for nearly three decades.

Before his younger brother Steve McNair was a Heisman Trophy finalist and became a college football legend, Fred McNair was the original “Air McNair.” He played quarterback for Alcorn in 1988 and ’89, and was fifth in the NCAA’s Division I-AA in passer efficiency and a second-team All-Southwestern Athletic Conference selection in 1989.

After a long career in the Arena Football League, the 47-year-old coached Mount Olive High School to two Class 1A championships in 2009 and 2010 and at Collins High School for two seasons before joining Alcorn’s staff.

Given his history with the school and family ties — another of his brothers, Tim, also played at Alcorn — McNair said being the head coach at Alcorn was a dream job for him.

“Me and my family, we all played football here. Being able to come back and be a leader of this football program means a lot to me,” McNair said.

McNair’s rise to the top job came in the wake of Hopson’s departure for Southern Miss on Saturday. McNair was named interim coach on Sunday, and then on Tuesday was told of his permanent promotion by athletic director Derek Horne.

Horne said McNair has not yet signed a new contract for the head coaching position, and that its details still need to be worked out.

“I told him I’m jumping for joy right now, and I was sitting down driving the car. He just made me feel like I was on top of the world when he told me that,” McNair said of his reaction to the news.

McNair said he plans to keep Alcorn’s staff together, and credited them for helping the program through a topsy-turvy 72-hour period. Alcorn has gone 28-10 over the last three seasons and won back-to-back SWAC championships.

“My plan is to keep all of these coaches. They’ve done a tremendous job with what they’re doing. It’s wonderful to be able to have those guys stay on board and be able to work with me,” McNair said. “It’s been a whirlwind, but my coaching staff has been behind me all the way. I can’t appreciate those guys enough.”

Maintaining continuity within the program was a big plus for players, as well. Several of them attended Tuesday’s press conference at the Mississippi Hall of Fame and Museum in Jackson and expressed support for their new leader.

“He’s a wonderful person, a wonderful coach. He’s like a father figure on the football field,” Alcorn quarterback Lenorris Footman said.

Keeping the next generation of Alcorn players on board was also a priority for McNair. With signing day looming Wednesday, he said the staff’s first order of business after Hopson left was to contact recruits and keep the 2016 signing class intact.

McNair felt the coaches had done that, and his hire should help even more.

“I talked to most of them that we had already offered, and everybody’s still on board. Now knowing that I’m the head coach at Alcorn, that’s a big plus. I think we’re going to have a pretty good signing class,” McNair said. “It’s very important, because now you look into the night and all the guys can see that Coach McNair has the helm now and everything is good.”