Donte Jackson (born January 19, 1979) is an American college basketball coach, currently head coach for the Grambling State Tigers of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC). In 2024, he led the Tigers to their first SWAC tournament championship in program history and their first ever NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament.
| Current position | |
|---|---|
| Title | Head coach |
| Team | Grambling State |
| Conference | SWAC |
| Record | 119–108 (.524) |
| Biographical details | |
| Born | January 19, 1979 Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S. |
| Playing career | |
| 1997–1998 | Milwaukee |
| 1999–2002 | Central State |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 2003–2010 | Central State (assistant) |
| 2010–2014 | Central State |
| 2014–2017 | Stillman |
| 2017–present | Grambling State |
| Administrative career (AD unless noted) | |
| 2016–2017 | Stillman |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 245–171 (.589) |
| Tournaments | 1–1 (NCAA Division I) 1–1 (NCAA Division II) 0–1 (CIT) |
| Accomplishments and honors | |
| Championships | |
| SWAC tournament (2024) 3x SWAC regular season (2018, 2023, 2024) | |
| Awards | |
| 2x Ben Jobe Award (2018, 2024) 3× SWAC Coach of the Year (2018, 2023, 2024) | |
Playing career
editAfter a standout high school career in his hometown of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Jackson attended Milwaukee for one season.[1] Jackson transferred to Central State where he was an all-conference and all-region selection during the 2001–2002 season, and part of the Marauders' NAIA Division I National Tournament Sweet 16 squad from the 1999–2000 season.
Coaching career
editAfter his playing career, Jackson became an assistant coach at his alma mater, and was in the position for seven years before being elevated to head coach in 2010. In his four years at Central State, Jackson compiled a 60–42 record, before accepting the head coaching position at Stillman. In two seasons as a member of the SIAC, Jackson led Stillman to a 44–16 record, winning the SIAC men's basketball tournament championship in 2016 and reaching the regional semifinals of the 2016 NCAA Division II men's basketball tournament. After 2016, the school dropped from NCAA Division II to NAIA.[2] In its first year as a NAIA Independent, Jackson guided the team to a 22–5 record.
On June 28, 2017, Jackson was officially named the head coach at Grambling State.[3]
In his first year with the Tigers, Jackson guided Grambling to its first SWAC regular season title since 1989.[4] However, due to low APR scores, Grambling was ineligible for conference tournament and postseason play.[5] For his efforts, Jackson was named 2018 SWAC Coach of the Year, and was the recipient of the 2018 Ben Jobe Award, as well.[6][7]
Head coaching record
editNCAA DII/NAIA
edit| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Central State Marauders (Division II Independent/G-MAC) (2010–2014) | |||||||||
| 2010–11 | Central State | 14–12 | N/A | ||||||
| 2011–12 | Central State | 19–9 | N/A | ||||||
| 2012–13 | Central State | 11–10* | 2–2 | 2nd | |||||
| 2013–14 | Central State | 16–11** | 7–5 | 3rd | |||||
| Central State: | 60–42 (.588) | 9–7 (.563) | |||||||
| Stillman Tigers (Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference) (2014–2016) | |||||||||
| 2014–15 | Stillman | 17–10 | 13–6 | 1st (West) | |||||
| 2015–16 | Stillman | 27–6 | 17–1 | 1st (West) | NCAA Division II Round of 32 | ||||
| Stillman Tigers (NAIA Independent) (2016–2017) | |||||||||
| 2016–17 | Stillman | 22–5 | – | – | |||||
| Stillman: | 66–21 (.759) | 30–7 (.811) | |||||||
| Total: | 126–63 (.667) | ||||||||
|
National champion
Postseason invitational champion
| |||||||||
NCAA DI
edit| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grambling State Tigers (Southwestern Athletic Conference) (2017–present) | |||||||||
| 2017–18 | Grambling State | 17–14 | 13–5 | 1st | |||||
| 2018–19 | Grambling State | 17–17 | 10–8 | T–3rd | CIT First Round | ||||
| 2019–20 | Grambling State | 17–15 | 11–7 | T–4th | |||||
| 2020–21 | Grambling State | 11–11 | 9–6 | 4th | |||||
| 2021–22 | Grambling State | 12–20 | 9–9 | T-6th | |||||
| 2022–23 | Grambling State | 22–8 | 15–3 | T–1st | |||||
| 2023–24 | Grambling State | 21–15 | 14–4 | 1st | NCAA Division I Round of 64 | ||||
| 2024–25 | Grambling State | 2-8 | |||||||
| Grambling State: | 119–108 (.524) | 81–42 (.659) | |||||||
| Total: | 119–108 (.524) | ||||||||
|
National champion
Postseason invitational champion
| |||||||||
References
edit- ^ "Donte Jackson College Stats - College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com.
- ^ Roberson, Amber (4 December 2015). "Stillman dropping all sports except basketball".
- ^ "Donte' Jackson Announced as Grambling State's Men's Basketball Coach".
- ^ "Grambling vs. Alabama State - Game Recap - March 3, 2018 - ESPN". ESPN.com.
- ^ "17 D-I teams don't make NCAA grade, banned from postseason". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2017-11-09.
- ^ "All-SWAC Men's Basketball Teams revealed".
- ^ Sports, HBCU (3 April 2018). "Grambling's Jackson named Ben Jobe National Coach of the Year".
- ^ a b "Central State lacked institutional control". 4 March 2016.
- ^ a b "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-05-10. Retrieved 2017-07-02.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)