Richard Jackson - Baseball Coach - University of Tennessee Athletics

Richard Jackson

Title:
Assistant Coach
Email:
rjacks53@tennessee.edu
Phone:
(865) 974-2053

Richard Jackson joined Tennessee's staff as a student assistant pitching coach in the fall of 2019 and was promoted to volunteer assistant coach in June of 2021 before earning full-time assistant coach status in the fall of 2023.

In his current role, Jackson is also charged with coordinating and running Tennessee's year round baseball camps.

Tennessee boasted one of the country’s top pitching staffs in 2023 and finished the year ranked among the top five nationally in ERA (2^nd – 3.63), WHIP (2^nd – 1.16), strikeout-to-walk ratio (2^nd – 4.03), shutouts (3^rd – 9), total strikeouts (3^rd – 738), strikeouts per nine innings (3^rd – 11.7), hits allowed per nine innings (4^th – 7.51) and walks allowed per nine innings (4^th – 2.90) while leading the Vols to their second College World Series appearance in three years.

The Vols also had a program-record six pitchers drafted in the 2023 MLB Draft, highlighted by first-rounder Chase Dollander, who became UT's highest-drafted pitcher straight out of college in program history when he was selected by the Colorado Rockies with the No. 9 overall pick.

The pitching staff played a major part in Tennessee's record-setting 2022 season that saw the program reach No. 1 in the polls for the first time in its history and win a school-record 57 games en route to SEC Regular Season and SEC Tournament titles. Working under pitching coach Frank Anderson, Jackson helped coach a staff that finished No. 1 nationally in ERA (2.51), strikeout-to-walk ratio (4.24), WHIP (1.00) and walks allowed per nine innings (2.48). The Vols also set single-season program records in ERA , WHIP, opponent batting average (.199), strikeouts (695), strikeouts/nine innings (10.5) and walks allowed/nine innings.

The Big Orange had a program-best five pitchers earn All-America honors during the 2022 season, led by the trio of Dollander, Chase Burns and Drew Beam. Dollander racked up the postseason honors following a dominant sophomore season, becoming the first UT player to be named SEC Pitcher of the Year and earn consensus first-team All-America honors since Luke Hochevar in 2005. Burns also brought home numerous national awards after being named the D1Baseball.com National Freshman of the Year, the NCBWA Freshman National Pitcher of the Year and the Collegiate Baseball Co-Freshman National Player of the Year, on top of earning All-America and Freshman All-America recognition. Beam had an equally impressive debut campaign and was named the SEC Freshman of the Year on top of earning All-America and Freshman All-America honors. Relievers Ben Joyce and Redmond Walsh also garnered All-America status from the NCBWA in 2022.

As a student assistant coach in 2020 and 2021, Jackson worked closely with Anderson to develop one of the country's top pitching staffs.

In 2021, Tennessee's pitching staff ranked in the top 10 nationally in strikeout-to-walk ratio (2^nd – 3.63), walks allowed/nine innings (3^rd – 2.49), WHIP (5^th – 1.16) and ERA (10^th – 3.51) as the Big Orange won 50 games for just the third time in program history and advanced to the College World Series for the first time since 2005.

During the COVID-shortened 2020 season, the Vols ranked among the top 25 in the nation in a handful of statistical categories, including: WHIP (0.94 - second), ERA (2.00 - fourth), hits allowed/nine innings (6.41 - 16^th), shutouts (three - 12^th), strikeout-to-walk ratio (4.89 - third) and walks allowed/nine innings (2.06 - third).

Prior to joining Vitello's staff as a student assistant, Jackson was a pitcher for the Vols from 2015-19. Under the guidance of Anderson, Jackson completely changed his delivery prior to the 2019 season and had a breakout campaign in which he helped lead the Big Orange to the NCAA regionals for the first time since 2005.

The Atlanta native went 1-0 and posted careers bests in ERA (1.40), appearances (21), innings pitched (19.1) and strikeouts (21) while holding opponents to a .119 batting average. In his final outing with UT, Jackson threw 3.1 scoreless innings of relief, allowing just one hit while tying a career high with four strikeouts against No. 14 North Carolina in the NCAA Chapel Hill Regional.