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Coaches • News • Roster |
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Men's Basketball Head Coach Dannton Jackson Office: (504) 520-5448 Fax: (504) 520-7972 E-Mail: djackson@xula.edu Mail and Shipping: 1 Drexel Drive, Campus Box 92, New Orleans LA 70125 Best Time to Contact Jackson: weekday mornings Dannton Jackson had a thorough understanding of Xavier University and a passion for the men's basketball program when he was promoted to head coach in June 2002. Since then he's used those qualities to continue the Gold Rush's success. Through three seasons, Jackson's accomplishments include: • Leading the Gold Rush to consecutive NAIA national tournament appearances (2004 and 2005) for the first time since the early 1970s. • Becoming the second Xavier men's coach to win 20 or more games in each of his first three seasons. (His predecessor, Dale Valdery, opened his Xavier career with five consecutive 20-game winners from 1990-95.) • Producing three of the 10 winningest seasons in school history — no small feat for a program which boasts of twenty-three 20-win seasons. • Posting three consecutive 20-win seasons from 2002-05 — no other coach in the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference did it during that time. Jackson will enter the 2006-07 season with a three-year record of 69-30 — the Gold Rush did not compete this past season because of the effects of Hurricane Katrina — and a burning desire to get back to the top of the GCAC and make some noise in the national tournament. The Rush was 13-5 in the GCAC in 2003-04 and 2004-05, sharing the conference's regular-season championship in '04 and finishing third in '05. Jackson's first Xavier team also placed third in the GCAC. "Xavier has a proud tradition of winning," Jackson said. "The basketball program has always tried to develop well-rounded young men. We get them ready for life, prepare them for the future. We have a high graduation rate and a family atmosphere. That's how the tradition of Xavier has grown." Jackson should know. His parents, Joseph (class of 1960) and Maxine (1958) are Xavier graduates, and his father was a football-track standout for the Rush. Another Xavier graduate is his uncle, Johnny Crear, who was a running back in the 1950s and, according to Jackson, the school's career rushing leader. And Jackson's grandfather, McNeil Berteaux, is a 1923 graduate of Xavier Normal School, which was founded and operated, like XU, by the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament. Jackson enrolled at Xavier in the late 1980s after one season at Cal State Northridge, lettered two seasons in basketball with the Gold Rush and earned his bachelor of arts degree in political science in 1992. He added a second Xavier degree, a master of arts in education administration, in 1996. Jackson's most recent team had other accomplishments. The Gold Rush set a school record for winning margin in a game (89 points vs. Wesley) led the GCAC in steals per game (12.1) and turnover margin (+6.5) and produced an honorable-mention All-American in forward Tim Green. Hurricane Katrina shut down Xavier for the fall 2005 semester and forced thousands to evacuate the New Orleans region, but Jackson said he was fortunate to be mentored during that time by two of America's top college coaches, John Calipari of Memphis and Rick Barnes of Texas. Jackson evacuated to Memphis and spent considerable time at Memphis team practices — "Coach Calipari kept the basketball thing alive. He opened up his entire program to me," Jackson said — and Barnes and his assistant, Russell Springmann, sent Jackson packages of practice tapes and manuals to replace storm-damaged Xavier materials. "Coach Calipari, Coach Barnes and Coach Springmann kept me close to the game," Jackson said. "I'll always be appreciative of what those guys did." Jackson was on Valdery's staff for four seasons and was promoted to associate head coach for the 2001-02 season. Jackson also has served Xavier as an assistant coach in women's basketball (1993-97), head coach of men's and women's cross country (1994-96) and interim athletics director in 2004. He also spent one season (1997-98) as a men's basketball assistant coach at Virginia State University in Petersburg, Va. In addition to his Xavier accomplishments, Jackson is a summer coach for an Adidas-sponsored AAU youth team, the New Orleans Jazz, and he designs individual training regimens for local NBA players during their offseason. In 1996 Jackson was director of player personnel for USA Basketball's men's and women's teams at the Olympic Games in Atlanta. He also directed the Michael Jordan Basketball Camp in New Orleans. Jackson was born April 14, 1970, in Los Angeles and grew up there. He is a graduate of Sherman Oaks CES, a high school in suburban Tarzana, Calif. |
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Xavier University of Louisiana • New Orleans University Web site: www.xula.edu Athletics Web site: www.xula.edu/athletics Men's basketball: www.xula.edu/athletics/mb |
