Baseball
- Title:
- Assistant Coach
- Email:
- jjackson@ia.ua.edu
- Phone:
- 205-348-4029
One of the top pitching coaches and recruiters in the assistant coaching ranks of college baseball, Jason Jackson was officially hired to serve as the Crimson Tide’s pitching coach on June 13, 2017, and enters his second season in that role in 2019. Jackson was the second addition to Brad Bohannon’s Crimson Tide staff and came to Tuscaloosa after spending 16 years as an assistant, including the previous nine as the pitching coach at Florida Atlantic University.
Jackson has built a reputation as one of the top recruiters in the Southeast and is known for his ability to develop talent on the mound. Before his most recent stint in Boca Raton, he was an assistant at South Alabama (2007-08), Mercer University (2003-06) and North Florida Community College (2002). In all of those stops, Jackson served as a pitching coach, recruiting coordinator or both.
The Tide saw significant improvements in Jackson’s first season leading the Alabama arms. The staff sported a 4.10 ERA in 2018 and struck out 370 compared to 195 walks allowed. Alabama’s ERA dropped by 0.83 from the 2017 campaign while the team’s walk total dropped by 65 across 56 contests. In SEC action, Tide pitchers dropped their combined ERA by 0.80 and slashed their walk totals by 61.
Jackson’s guidance helped four-year starter Jake Walters return to form in 2018. Walters finished his final year at the Capstone as the team leader in strikeouts at 82, good for 12th in the SEC, and a team-high tying four wins to go with a 3.73 ERA. The senior starter was even better in conference play, maintaining a lowly 2.89 ERA which was fifth-best in the league, and earned SEC Co-Pitcher of the Week honors for his complete game shutout against then-No. 4 Ole Miss in the final start of his Alabama career. Walters went on to be the first member of the Crimson Tide selected in the 2018 MLB Draft, going in the ninth round to the Miami Marlins.
During his nine seasons with the Owls, Jackson helped FAU develop into one of the top baseball programs in the NCAA South-Central region. Jackson joined the FAU staff in 2008 and worked his way to the title of Associate Head Coach by September of 2016. Throughout the nine-year span in Boca Raton, the FAU program captured four conference titles and appeared in four NCAA Regionals, including the 2013 NCAA Chapel Hill Regional, where the Owls defeated top-seeded host North Carolina. On the hill, Jackson coached 16 pitchers that were selected in the Major League Baseball Draft, 13 of which were previously undrafted prior to their time under his tutelage.
A pair of FAU arms that were guided by Jackson saw their names called in the 2018 MLB Draft with Tyler Frank (2nd Round, Tampa Bay Rays) and Cody Wilson (13th Round, Washington Nationals) each being selected. Jackson also had 14 pitchers that were chosen in the Major League Baseball Drafts during his time at FAU, including: Alex House (24th Round, Houston Astros) in 2017; David McKay (14th Round, Kansas City Royals), Colyn O’Connell (26th Round, Detroit Tigers) and Robbie Coursel (26th Round, Pittsburgh Pirates) in 2016; Seth McGarry (8th Round, Pittsburgh Pirates), Kyle Miller (19th Round, Chicago Cubs) and Drew Jackson (35th Round, San Francisco Giants) in 2015; Austin Gomber (4th Round, St. Louis Cardinals) in 2014; Michael Sylvestri (29th Round, Washington Nationals) in 2013; R.J. Alvarez (3rd Round, Los Angeles Angels) and Ryan Garton (34th Round, Tampa Bay Rays) in 2012; Paul Davis (17th Round, San Francisco Giants) in 2011; Ryan Bernal (23rd Round, Milwaukee Brewers) and Mike Gipson (31st Round, New York Yankees) in 2010; and Alex Pepe (44th Round, Texas Rangers) in 2009.
The 2017 season under Jackson’s watch saw the Owls rank second in ERA and allow the second-fewest earned runs. FAU’s pitchers struck out 444 compared to only 131 walks while holding the opposition to a league-low .262 average. The pitching staff was highlighted by second team All-Conference USA selection Cameron Ragsdale.
In 2016, the Owls’ staff paced Conference USA with a 3.24 ERA, six shutouts and a 1.21 WHIP, while allowing a league-low for walks, runs and doubles en route to winning the C-USA regular-season championship. The FAU pitchers ranked 14th in the nation in both ERA and walks allowed, and 15th in WHIP. The 2015 slate featured the emergence of several pitchers who gained national traction under Jackson’s guidance, including one who received All-Conference honors.
As the Owls made their transition into Conference USA in 2014, Jackson’s pitchers allowed only nine home runs, the fewest FAU history and the fewest in C-USA that season. The Owls ranked 19th nationally in strikeout-to-walk ratio at 2.57 – a category in which they led the league in four of the last five seasons thanks to Jackson’s guidance. The 2013 team featured FAU closer Hugh Adams, as he set the school’s season saves record with 18 on the way to recording both the FAU and Sun Belt Conference career saves mark with 31.
In his first three seasons at FAU, Jackson helped guide the Owls to two Sun Belt Conference titles in a three-year span. Jackson tutored starting pitcher Paul Davis and Adams earn All-South Central Region selections by the National Baseball Coaches Association of America at the end of the 2011 season.
He spent 2007 and 2008 as an assistant coach at the University of South Alabama. Two of Jackson’s pitchers at USA were selected in the 2008 MLB Draft. Under his direction in 2007, Jaguar pitchers struck out 188 more batters than they walked during the previous season before his arrival.
Jackson began his collegiate coaching career as a pitching coach at North Florida Community College in 2002 before moving to Macon, Ga., in 2003 to serve as an assistant coach at Mercer University. Jackson was essential in establishing a number of new university pitching records during his three seasons with the Bears, and was elevated to the program’s recruiting coordinator in 2006.
The Crimson Tide’s pitching coach earned his bachelor’s degree from Florida State in physical education in 2000, before going on to obtain a master’s degree in sports administration at FSU. A native of Tallahassee, Fla., he and his wife, Katie, have three children, Kinsey, Tyler and Haylee.
