After 27 years at the lower levels of college hoops, Brad Jackson left Western Washington University Friday to become an assistant to Lorenzo Romar at Washington.
He replaces Raphael Chillious, who is leaving after three years to join the staff at Villanova in Philadelphia under Jay Wright.
The Vikings of Bellingham were 31-5 and won their first Division II national championship last season.
Jackson said in a statement released by the school: “The position is really a great fit and the timing is right. But we’ve worked very hard to establish something here and it’s hard to leave that. A lot of great young men have played here and I take a lot of pride in what’s been accomplished.”
Western said Tony Dominguez, an assistant under Jackson for the last 19 years, will take over as the Vikings interim head coach.
Jackson, 60, is the winningest coach in school history with a 518-279 record and ranks third among college coaches in the state, behind Washington’s Marv Harshman (637) and Central Washington’sDean Nicholson (620). WWU has reached the postseason 19 times under Jackson.
“I think we got an absolute steal,” Romar said in a statement released by UW. “You hire a basketball coach off of winning a national championship … it doesn’t happen very often. I’m just ecstatic that he has decided to do this.
“I have tried to hire him before and it just didn’t work out. He is successful. Very accomplished and knows the Northwest. He has been here forever. He is definitely going to help our program.”
Jackson played basketball and baseball at Washington State. He graduated in 1975. He served five years as an assistant at Seattle Pacific and five years as a high school coach before taking over at WWU in 1985.
12 Comments
Good move by Romar. I remember Jackson from when he played guard at Wazzu under George Raveling, and he’s gone on to become a very good coach, obviously. Jackson has a good basketball mind and he’ll bring instant credibility with high school coaches for the recruiting of in-state players.
Good move by Romar. I remember Jackson from when he played guard at Wazzu under George Raveling, and he’s gone on to become a very good coach, obviously. Jackson has a good basketball mind and he’ll bring instant credibility with high school coaches for the recruiting of in-state players.
Mixed emotions on this one. My son and I are both Husky fans but my son is also a WWU grad. National and world championships are few and far between in this part of the world, so we’re sad to see him leave Bellingham. At least he stayed close to home. Maybe he can help do the same at UW.
Mixed emotions on this one. My son and I are both Husky fans but my son is also a WWU grad. National and world championships are few and far between in this part of the world, so we’re sad to see him leave Bellingham. At least he stayed close to home. Maybe he can help do the same at UW.
It’ll be a blowout win for the Hawks. Wilson will not single-handedly beat the Cardinals, but his supporting cast is so strong–i.e. the defense and running game–that he won’t be asked to play beyond his means.
That’s the game plan, Jtkxyz, but the results will be hard to come by in the first game. But your optimism is commendable.
Andy, I believe I confined my write-off to the first game, not the season. My point was he’s going to see things he’s never seen Sunday, and fans need to temper expectations for the first game. Growing pains, y’know?
That’s OK, Trakar. I have faith in you as a reader.
That’s what life is like in the land of the outlier, Jamo. Carroll is a risk-taker, but if you listen carefully, his primary mantra on offensive is control of the ball — no turnovers, and run the ball as often as possible. That’s how he sees Wilson surviving, and succeeding, as a rookie QB.
But one’s bones are made on third. And if you’re right about first and second down, then there’s a lot of third-and-one. Everyone looks smarter on third-and-one.
Good catch, E-man. Fixed. Thanks.
Telling everyone that Russell Wilson will see things he’s never seen before makes zero sense to me. Sure, the kid hasn’t played an NFL game yet, but I would think that he has seen a lot of different looks in practice from a very good defense. It wouldn’t make sense for Seattle coaching to only throw a vanilla defense at him in practice. That wouldn’t do the team or Russell any good. Russell Wilson will be prepared to handle everything that the cardinals can throw at him. It seems as though people forget that there is more to preparation than just preseason games.