South Alabama women's basketball assistant coach Yolisha Jackson joined the program on May 31, 2013, after spending the previous three seasons as an assistant at the United States Air Force Academy.  During her three seasons, she was primarily responsible for recruiting and coaching the Falcons' post players.

Jackson arrived at the Academy in 2010 after spending five seasons at Kennesaw State University where she served as the recruiting coordinator for the Lady Owls during her final three seasons.

During the 2005-06 season, Jackson coached all-Atlantic Sun selection Shavonder Clarke, a junior college transfer who scored over 1,000 points in two years at KSU.  In 2007-08, she coached Atlantic Sun Defensive Player of the Year Greteya Kelley, while helping lead the Lady Owls to a 16-12 overall record and third-place finish in the league.

Leading up to the start of the 2013-14 season, www.USAJaguars.com will sit down with the members on the Jaguar women's basketball staff to give fans a brief introduction to each.  

Question:  What's it like working for coach Fowler?
Yolisha Jackson: "Working with coach Fowler has been a very rewarding experience for me.  Every day I learn something new whether it's the X's and O's side of basketball or how to handle players or people.  He comes into the office every day with a great attitude and he just wants to get better and win each and every day."

Q:  When coach Fowler called you to join his staff, what drew you to coming to South Alabama?
YJ: "After I talked with a few people that knew him, they all had nothing but great things to say about him.  From how he is around people to the way he coaches and his knowledge of the game.  When I looked at the university, I felt like it was getting ready to explode with the enrollment growth and the new facilities being built.  That's what drew me here."

Q:  What's your recruiting philosophy?
YJ: "First we look at fit.  Everything's about a fit with us.  We necessarily don't go after the kid that may be the most talented or best kid in other people's eyes.  We go out for a player who's first off going to work and is a great kid who will fit in our system.  We've all found at our previous schools, that if you have kids who believe in your system and in your core values, that you will be successful.  That's the type of kids that we want to be around."
 
Q:  You're big into social media.  What part do you believe that technology plays in recruiting?
YJ: "It is huge.  It's huge just from the standpoint of keeping up with recruits, but it's also important when learning about them.  Kids put up things sometimes that you just would not believe and that goes along with finding the fit for the program.  Social media has been great for us to just be able to blast 'the South's hidden gem', because a lot of people don't know about this place.  All of the pictures that we put up and different things have led to people responding back to us that probably wouldn't have ever responded to us before social media."

Q:  Did you always know that you wanted to be a coach and why do you love coaching?
YJ: "I did.  My dad played and coached professionally and in college athletics.  From the time I was probably about 12, I would work the YMCA games doing the scoreboard and shot clock, among other things.  I just knew then that I wanted to somehow stay around the game of basketball and just coach and win, because I'm a huge competitor."

Q:  What do you like most about coaching?
YJ: "Watching the maturity and growth of the young ladies.  That's one of the coolest things to me.  Every place I've been at, I've been able to be there at least three years.  When you see a class come in and then you see them leave, that's kind of a special thing.  You can say 'I remember when you came in as a freshman and you did this, this and that and then now you've matured so much.  Watching the growth over the four years is the part I like most."

Q:  When you're not at practice or recruiting, where can we find you?
YJ: "At the beach.  Whether it's here in the Mobile area or down in Miami.  I'm definitely a beach person."

Q:  What is your favorite place in Mobile?
YJ: "Well I love to eat, so I would probably say Foosackly's and probably Hero's downtown just because you can sit outside while you eat and the weather's always great down here.  I like those two places a lot."

Q:  If you had to pick one word to describe the 2013-14 South Alabama Women's Basketball team what would it be?
YJ: "Entertaining.  This group entertains us every day, whether they're coming in our office with something new and crazy or whether they do something spectacular on the court.  In everything we do, this group is just always entertaining and they've been a lot of fun to be around."  

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

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