Donte Jackson (basketball)

Donte Jackson
Current position
TitleHead coach
TeamGrambling State
ConferenceSWAC
Record118–100 (.541)
Biographical details
Born (1979-01-19) January 19, 1979 (age 45)
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.
Playing career
1997–1998Milwaukee
1999–2002Central State
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
2003–2010Central State (assistant)
2010–2014Central State
2014–2017Stillman
2017–presentGrambling State
Administrative career (AD unless noted)
2016–2017Stillman
Head coaching record
Overall244–163 (.600)
Tournaments1–1 (NCAA Division I)
1–1 (NCAA Division II)
0–1 (CIT)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
SWAC tournament (2024)
3x SWAC regular season (2018, 2023, 2024)
Awards
2x Ben Jobe Award (2018, 2024)
SWAC Coach of the Year (2018, 2023, 2024)

Donte Jackson (born January 19, 1979) is an American college basketball coach, currently head coach for the Grambling State Tigers of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC). In 2024, he led the Tigers to their first SWAC tournament championship in program history and their first ever NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament.

Playing career

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After a standout high school career in his hometown of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Jackson attended Milwaukee for one season.[1] Jackson transferred to Central State where he was an all-conference and all-region selection during the 2001–2002 season, and part of the Marauders' NAIA Division I National Tournament Sweet 16 squad from the 1999–2000 season.

Coaching career

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After his playing career, Jackson became an assistant coach at his alma mater, and was in the position for seven years before being elevated to head coach in 2010. In his four years at Central State, Jackson compiled a 60–42 record, before accepting the head coaching position at Stillman. In two seasons as a member of the SIAC, Jackson led Stillman to a 44–16 record, winning the SIAC men's basketball tournament championship in 2016 and reaching the regional semifinals of the 2016 NCAA Division II men's basketball tournament. After 2016, the school dropped from NCAA Division II to NAIA.[2] In its first year as a NAIA Independent, Jackson guided the team to a 22–5 record.

On June 28, 2017, Jackson was officially named the head coach at Grambling State.[3]

In his first year with the Tigers, Jackson guided Grambling to its first SWAC regular season title since 1989.[4] However, due to low APR scores, Grambling was ineligible for conference tournament and postseason play.[5] For his efforts, Jackson was named 2018 SWAC Coach of the Year, and was the recipient of the 2018 Ben Jobe Award, as well.[6][7]

Head coaching record

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NCAA DII/NAIA

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Statistics overview
Season Team Overall Conference Standing Postseason
Central State Marauders (Division II Independent/G-MAC) (2010–2014)
2010–11 Central State 14–12 N/A
2011–12 Central State 19–9 N/A
2012–13 Central State 11–10* 2–2 2nd
2013–14 Central State 16–11** 7–5 3rd
Central State: 60–42 (.588) 9–7 (.563)
Stillman Tigers (Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference) (2014–2016)
2014–15 Stillman 17–10 13–6 1st (West)
2015–16 Stillman 27–6 17–1 1st (West) NCAA Division II Round of 32
Stillman Tigers (NAIA Independent) (2016–2017)
2016–17 Stillman 22–5
Stillman: 66–21 (.759) 30–7 (.811)
Total: 126–63 (.667)

      National champion         Postseason invitational champion  
      Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
      Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion
      Conference tournament champion

  • Six wins vacated by NCAA[8][9]
    • Two wins vacated by NCAA[8][9]

NCAA DI

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Statistics overview
Season Team Overall Conference Standing Postseason
Grambling State Tigers (Southwestern Athletic Conference) (2017–present)
2017–18 Grambling State 17–14 13–5 1st
2018–19 Grambling State 17–17 10–8 T–3rd CIT First Round
2019–20 Grambling State 17–15 11–7 T–4th
2020–21 Grambling State 11–11 9–6 4th
2021–22 Grambling State 12–20 9–9 T-6th
2022–23 Grambling State 22–8 15–3 T–1st
2023–24 Grambling State 21–15 14–4 1st NCAA Division I Round of 64
2024–25 Grambling State 1-0
Grambling State: 118–100 (.541) 81–42 (.659)
Total: 118–100 (.541)

      National champion         Postseason invitational champion  
      Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
      Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion
      Conference tournament champion

References

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  1. ^ "Donte Jackson College Stats - College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com.
  2. ^ Roberson, Amber (4 December 2015). "Stillman dropping all sports except basketball".
  3. ^ "Donte' Jackson Announced as Grambling State's Men's Basketball Coach".
  4. ^ "Grambling vs. Alabama State - Game Recap - March 3, 2018 - ESPN". ESPN.com.
  5. ^ "17 D-I teams don't make NCAA grade, banned from postseason". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2017-11-09.
  6. ^ "All-SWAC Men's Basketball Teams revealed".
  7. ^ Sports, HBCU (3 April 2018). "Grambling's Jackson named Ben Jobe National Coach of the Year".
  8. ^ a b "Central State lacked institutional control". 4 March 2016.
  9. ^ a b "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-05-10. Retrieved 2017-07-02.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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