Jason Jackson: Alabama Baseball's Mr. Right Now

After 20+ years as an assistant coach, Jackson is finally getting his opportunity in the most prestigious conference in the sport — and he’s taking full advantage.

Austin Hannon | Jun 2, 2023

Alabama Athletics

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — May 4, 2023 was a dark day for Alabama baseball.

A storied program — one with five College World Series appearances, seven regional championships, and an all-time SEC record in wins with over 2,500 — hit rock bottom.

One NCAA tournament appearance in the last nine years. Then, the head coach is fired for his involvement in allegedly gambling against his own student-athletes.

It doesn’t get any worse than that. Where do you go from there? More importantly — who on Planet Earth could grab the attention of these young men?

There may have been one person and one person only capable of keeping the Crimson Tide’s season from launching off the tracks a month ago.

That person is Jason Jackson.

Jackson, a Tallahassee, Fla. native, has been quick to praise his veteran players for Alabama’s heroic late-season turnaround. But who is the person in charge of the veteran players, the person who has been able to keep the players’ mindset stable and focused on the end goal?

“Whenever this happens, it's like your first — like your first thought just goes to the players,” Jackson said. “Like, ‘Hey, what do we need to do to make sure these guys keep moving in the right direction?’”

“You know, I think the message for the guys was just, ‘Guys, this doesn't affect you unless you let it. Let's just continue to stay focused on what we need to do, and you guys have a lot of good baseball in front of you. You've got everything you want to accomplish right in front of you. You're kind of at that crossroads — like, which way do you want to take it? Do you want to let it derail you and use it as an excuse, or are you going to keep doing the things that we've been doing all year? We've been playing really good baseball. Let's continue to stay in our routines. Let's continue to keep things business as usual.’”

It’s certainly an underdog story. Jackson has been an assistant coach in college baseball for over 20 years — with the majority of his time at smaller, lesser-known schools in Florida. If you know college baseball, you know that assistant coaches at non-SEC programs don’t have the dream lifestyle that Aaron Boone and Dave Roberts may have. It’s countless hours, endless work — and for what? For the love of the game of baseball — and for the love of developing amateur baseball players looking to take a professional step in their playing career.

Not everyone gets a shot at being a head coach in the SEC. The SEC is the toughest, most competitive league in the country — and it’s not close. Many try, and many fail, to keep up with the top programs in the conference.

Jackson is doing more than keeping up — he has the Crimson Tide playing at a higher level than it has in 17 years. He’s 10-4 in 14 games coached so far — and he has Alabama hosting an NCAA regional in Tuscaloosa for the first time since 2006.

People are beginning to take notice. In last week’s SEC tournament, several of the top coaches in the sport voiced their support for Jackson — saying that he has earned this opportunity after an outstanding career as an assistant.

“I told him I'm proud of him,” Auburn head coach Butch Thompson said on May 25. “He's been a good coach for a long period of time, and everybody respects [Jackson], and when he's got his opportunity, I think there's enough maturity there that he's handled himself with. As a coach that's been in this league a long time, we absolutely respect people that handle themselves very well, and he's done an amazing job.”

“I think certain situations with teams can bind you and allow you to insulate yourself to where you focus on your relationships, and moving forward as a team I think they've done that,” Vanderbilt head coach Tim Corbin said on May 26. “I think their staff, I mentioned to [Jackson] at home plate how I felt like he had done a really nice job with his team from afar in terms of holding them together, playing well.”

Jackson’s reach doesn’t end at the college level. Former MLB catcher and current Chicago Cubs manager David Ross has been one of Jackson’s closest friends since childhood.

“[Jackson’s] personality is perfect to lead men,” Ross said to the Tallahassee Democrat. “His calm presence and knowledge has always made people around him better. He knows baseball, he knows people, and is always working to better himself in every area. He has always worked hard and his calm leadership is the perfect fit for this uncertainty.”

With the reputation he has gathered from others in the baseball world, it seems that an opportunity like this was always going to find Jackson.

On May 4, the Crimson Tide’s season could have gone several different directions. With now-SEC tournament champion Vanderbilt coming to town, would Alabama lay down and turn in the season — or would it fight for something bigger?

The Crimson Tide made an emphatic decision towards the latter — rolling over the Commodores 11-2 in Jackson’s first game as head coach.

“I think that win on that day — it made you feel like ‘Alright, these guys are good,’” Jackson said. “You worried about them and where they were going to be mentally. For them to go out and be able to block out the noise and play the way they did — it felt like going forward, these guys are in a good place and we’re going to be alright.”

Alabama is more than alright. The Crimson Tide wrapped up conference play at the top of the SEC in run differential. Now, Alabama is bringing postseason baseball back to Tuscaloosa for the first time since 2006.

Athletic director Greg Byrne is going to have a very difficult decision on his hands when, or if, the Crimson Tide’s magical run comes to an end this season. The results are there — and with each day that goes by, it looks more and more like Jackson is the person to lead the program moving forward.

“He did a wonderful job from the very first meeting with the team and it has continued,” Byrne said on Wednesday at the SEC Spring Meetings in Destin, Fla. “I’ve been around him a lot and been very pleased with the job that he has done and been very pleased with the job the kids have done. They’ve stayed focused on the task at hand.”

“They had a lot of success at the end of the year and obviously [them getting] to host for the first time in 17 years means a lot to our baseball program and our athletic department. I can’t wait to be sitting at The Joe at 6 o’clock. It’ll be outstanding.”

Until then, Jackson and the Crimson Tide are going to keep having fun on the diamond.

“These guys make it so fun each day,” Jackson said. “They make it so easy each day. Our staff does a great job, our players do a great job. My job is just to try to keep everybody moving in the same direction. When you have a group like we have, both staff and players, they make that really easy.”

Whatever direction that is — it’s working. The Crimson Tide is just five wins away from going to Omaha for the first time since 1999.

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