Jessica Jackson - Women's Basketball Coach - University of Tennessee Athletics

Jessica Jackson

Title:
Director of Recruiting Operations
Year At Tennessee:
2
Alma Mater (Year):
WCU (2010)
Email:
jjack131@utk.edu

Jessica Jackson recently completed her second year as director of recruiting operations with the Tennessee women’s basketball program after being a part of Kellie Harper’s staff at two other universities.

During Jackson's two seasons on Rocky Top, UT has forged a combined 38-18 overall mark and 19-10 record in SEC play, notching a pair of third-place league finishes and advancing to the SEC Tournament semifinals in 2021 for the first time since 2016. UT defeated four ranked opponents in 2020-21, including No. 2/3 South Carolina, and earned a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Lady Vols finished 17-8 overall and 9-4 in SEC games, ending the year ranked No. 14 in the AP Poll and 16th in the USA TODAY Coaches Poll.

UT's staff has developed players who also have earned recognition for their performances. Rennia Davis earned All-SEC First Team and All-America honorable mention from AP, USBWA and WBCA the past two seasons. Rae Burrell picked up All-SEC Second Team accolades in 2021, while Jordan Horston (2020) and Marta Suárez (2021) made the SEC All-Freshman Team, and Tamari Key became UT's first member of the SEC All-Defensive Team since 2012 with her recognition in 2021.

The first recruiting class signed by the current staff, which was amazingly wrapped up during the midst of the pandemic in 2020, produced 2020-21 starters in true freshman forward Marta Suárez, graduate transfer post Keyen Green from Liberty and graduate transfer point guard Jordan Walker from Western Michigan. The four-player signing group in 2021 has been rated No. 9 by ProspectsNation.com and No. 15 by HoopGurlz/espnW and should contribute significantly to the Lady Vols' upward mobility.

Tennessee's pursuit of excellence does not all take place on the court. The program, which has an all-time 100-percent graduation rate, put eight on the SEC Academic Honor Roll in 2020 and has displayed an improved overall team GPA the past two seasons.

A former player, graduate assistant and assistant under Harper, Jackson spent the 2018-19 season as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for Missouri State’s NCAA Sweet 16 squad. She joined the Lady Vol program on May 31, 2019.

Prior to coming onboard with Harper at MSU, Jackson was employed during the 2017-18 campaign by Samford University in Birmingham, Ala., where her main responsibilities with the Bulldog women’s program included recruiting, academics and scheduling.

She spent the previous three years (2014-17) at Appalachian State, contributing to a variety of aspects of the program in addition to her coaching and recruiting duties, ranging from equipment to compliance. Jackson was on the staff of ASU head coach Angel Elderkin, who served as a graduate assistant and then video coordinator for the Lady Vols from 2005-07.

Prior to her time at Appalachian State, Jackson was the director of women's basketball operations at Kent State University for two seasons from 2012-14.

Originally from Roswell, Ga., and a 2016 inductee to the Roswell High School Hall of Fame, Jackson played college basketball for two seasons at South Florida before transferring to Western Carolina prior to the 2007-08 season to play for Harper. She dished out a team-high 117 assists as a starting point guard for the Catamounts' NCAA Tournament team in 2009, and finished her college career with 475 points and 279 assists in 113 games.

Jackson graduated from WCU in 2010 with a marketing degree and earned her master's in adult and community college education from North Carolina State in 2012 after a two-year stint as a graduate assistant on Harper's staff in Raleigh from 2010-12.