University of South Alabama head baseball coach Steve Kittrell announced the hiring of Jason Jackson from Mercer University, as the new pitching coach and recruiting coordinator Friday morning. Jackson will take the place of recently retired Ronnie Powell as pitching coach and take over recruiting duties from Rob Reinstetle, who accepted a position at Ole Miss.
“I am very excited about the addition of Jason to our coaching staff,” said Kittrell. “He came highly recommended from three people who I trust completely and he lived up to it in the interview process. I think we are fortunate to have Jason at South Alabama, not only as a pitching coach, but as an aggressive recruiter. All of the coaches that I have talked to about Jason stated that he will be a tremendous asset to South Alabama and that he is one of the top young upcoming coaches.”
Jackson, a 28 year old native of Tallahassee, Fla., received both his bachelors and masters degrees from Florida State University after a two year playing career at Tallahassee Community College and Santa Fe Junior College.
“I know I’ve got some big shoes to fill,” said Jackson. “Ronnie Powell has obviously done great things, but I am excited about this great challenge. South Alabama has a great tradition and I am looking forward to the chance. I have met some of the returning players and we have some great guys coming in, so I am excited about the opportunity.”
After battling arm injuries during his playing career, Jackson took his first coaching job in 2001 at North Florida Community College, where he spent a pair of seasons. In 2004, Jackson moved to Mercer University where he has spent the past three seasons. After acting as co-recruiting coordinator for his first two seasons, Jackson was promoted to recruiting coordinator for the 2006 season.
In his second season at Mercer, Jackson’s pitchers set the school record for shutouts. One year later, his pitchers smashed that record on route to a third place finish in the Atlantic Sun regular season. The Bears finished their season with a semi-final conference tournament loss to Stetson.
Along with setting the school record for shutouts, Jackson also had a hand in developing a pair of first team All-Atlantic Sun pitchers in Brantley New and Andrew Urena. Urena was an ABCA/Rawlings third team All-American and both were selected in the Major League baseball draft.
