From Ivy League to Furman
By: Russell Dorn
Issue date: 4/28/06 Section: Sports
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A new era of Furman basketball began Monday morning as Jeff Jackson, an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Vanderbilt University, was named the new men's head basketball coach after former head coach Larry Davis left to take an associate head coaching position at the University of Cincinnati three weeks ago.
Jackson was born May 1, 1961, in the Queens borough of New York, N.Y. He joked about growing up in a rough neighborhood, saying that, "you didn't want to know any of the people that lived around him."
Growing up he enjoyed sports and especially basketball, which he would play on the playgrounds and "get his butt whooped."
He attended St. Francis Prep in Queens and then enrolled at the prestigious Cornell University, where he met wife Carolyn on the first day of classes. He graduated in 1984 with a bachelor's degree in Industrial and Labor Relations.
Jackson began his coaching career as an assistant coach during his last two years at Cornell. He then moved to Southern California as a graduate assistant. From there Jackson assistant coached at St. Bonaventure and Colorado State.
His next stop was Stanford University, where he was assistant coordinator and recruiting coordinator. During his tenure at Stanford, he helped lead the Cardinals to two NCAA tournament appearances as well as one National Invitation Tournament appearance.
After 13 years of assistant coaching at various institutions, Jackson finally received his first shot at a head-coaching job at the University of New Hampshire. There he helped improve a team that had not had a 10-win season in over a decade. He got one in his second season at the helm. When asked about what he learned from his first head-coaching job, Jackson said, "It was a great opportunity to run my own program."
After taking a step back in year three at UNH, Jackson headed to Vanderbilt, where he primarily handled the recruiting for the Commodores. Jackson thrived in this job and was named as one of the 25 best recruiters in the country by Rivals.com. During his stay at Vanderbilt, the Commodores managed one NCAA tournament appearance while making four NIT appearances.
When asked about Jackson as a coach and person, Vanderbilt head coach Kevin Stallings said, "Jeff Jackson is one of the finest coaches I've been around in college basketball. I will miss him dearly."
"That said, this is a fantastic choice for Furman because of Jeff's background and all-around outstanding ability as a leader, recruiter and tactician," Stallings continued. "He is also extremely organized and possesses a tremendous capacity for work that I am convinced will assist him in raising the competitive level of Furman's program. I want to congratulate Furman and Gary Clark for making this choice, and I'm very happy for Jeff and Carolyn."
Based on what we have seen from his career thus far, Jeff Jackson is the man to lead Furman basketball to places it has not been in decades and to finally bring some much-needed enthusiasm back to Paladin basketball.
Jackson was born May 1, 1961, in the Queens borough of New York, N.Y. He joked about growing up in a rough neighborhood, saying that, "you didn't want to know any of the people that lived around him."
Growing up he enjoyed sports and especially basketball, which he would play on the playgrounds and "get his butt whooped."
He attended St. Francis Prep in Queens and then enrolled at the prestigious Cornell University, where he met wife Carolyn on the first day of classes. He graduated in 1984 with a bachelor's degree in Industrial and Labor Relations.
Jackson began his coaching career as an assistant coach during his last two years at Cornell. He then moved to Southern California as a graduate assistant. From there Jackson assistant coached at St. Bonaventure and Colorado State.
His next stop was Stanford University, where he was assistant coordinator and recruiting coordinator. During his tenure at Stanford, he helped lead the Cardinals to two NCAA tournament appearances as well as one National Invitation Tournament appearance.
After 13 years of assistant coaching at various institutions, Jackson finally received his first shot at a head-coaching job at the University of New Hampshire. There he helped improve a team that had not had a 10-win season in over a decade. He got one in his second season at the helm. When asked about what he learned from his first head-coaching job, Jackson said, "It was a great opportunity to run my own program."
After taking a step back in year three at UNH, Jackson headed to Vanderbilt, where he primarily handled the recruiting for the Commodores. Jackson thrived in this job and was named as one of the 25 best recruiters in the country by Rivals.com. During his stay at Vanderbilt, the Commodores managed one NCAA tournament appearance while making four NIT appearances.
When asked about Jackson as a coach and person, Vanderbilt head coach Kevin Stallings said, "Jeff Jackson is one of the finest coaches I've been around in college basketball. I will miss him dearly."
"That said, this is a fantastic choice for Furman because of Jeff's background and all-around outstanding ability as a leader, recruiter and tactician," Stallings continued. "He is also extremely organized and possesses a tremendous capacity for work that I am convinced will assist him in raising the competitive level of Furman's program. I want to congratulate Furman and Gary Clark for making this choice, and I'm very happy for Jeff and Carolyn."
Based on what we have seen from his career thus far, Jeff Jackson is the man to lead Furman basketball to places it has not been in decades and to finally bring some much-needed enthusiasm back to Paladin basketball.