Cornelius Jackson, who has more than 10 years of experience as a college basketball coach, has been named an assistant basketball coach at Cleveland State.
"We are excited to have Cornelius Jackson join the men’s basketball staff at Cleveland State," head coach Gary Waters said. "His past experiences and history proves that he can come in and do a great job as a coach and with recruiting, player development and player relations. We lost a strong person and coach in Jayson Gee, but feel that Cornelius will bring those traits back to our successful program."
Jackson arrives at CSU after serving a four-year stint as an assistant coach at Tennessee Martin, including the final two years as the Assistant Head Coach and Recruiting Coordinator.
In 2011-12, Jackson oversaw the development of Myles Taylor who was the Ohio Valley Conference Freshman of the Year and also earned a spot on the all-newcomer team. In his first season as the recruiting coordinator, Jackson secured one of the top classes in program history as UT Martin’s freshmen trio combined to win eight Ohio Valley Conference Freshman of the Week awards, marking just the third time that one school earned that many mentions in a single season since the league created the award in 1978-79.
In 2010-11, UT Martin also tripled its win total from the previous season and earned its first-ever OVC Tournament victory in Nashville with Jackson on staff.
Prior to joining the staff at UT Martin, Jackson was an assistant coach at West Virginia State University for six years (2003-09). He was responsible for all recruiting and scheduling at West Virginia State, while coordinating the video film exchange, scouting opponents and assisting with the development of game plans. He developed specialized workouts for individual skill instruction for both post and perimeter players and coordinated all itineraries and travel arrangements for unofficial and official visits.
He was part of five teams that won at least 20 games and captured three NCAA tournament bids. During his six seasons at West Virginia State, Jackson was part of 148 wins, including back-to-back conference championships for the first time in school history.
Jackson signed with Tennessee out of high school and started 20 of 27 games for the Vols as a freshman. He transferred to Marshall where he was the starting point guard and team captain for three years. He was also the only Herd player to start every game during his career, leading the Mid-American Conference in assists as a junior and senior.
After graduation, Jackson was drafted by the Roanoke Dazzle of the National Basketball Development League (NBDL). He also played professionally in Germany and Austria.
Jackson was an All-American and the West Virginia high school Player of the Year in 1996 when he averaged 28.0 points, 5.9 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 3.8 assists at Oak Hill Academy.
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