Entering her seventh season on the University of South Alabama staff, Yolisha Jackson was promoted to associate head coach prior to the start of the 2019-20 campaign.
During her first six years at USA, Jackson has worked primarily with the post position players, while serving as the recruiting coordinator for the Jags. South Alabama’s 2014 recruiting class ranked second among the teams in the Sun Belt Conference according to Girls Basketball Report.  Over the last seasons, she has contributed as South has made back-to-back national postseason appearances including going 25-11 a year ago following an appearance in the championship game of the conference tournament and a first-round WNIT victory.
During the 2018-19 campaign, her efforts helped Antoinette Lewis — in her first year as a starter — pace the conference in both field-goal percentage and double-doubles while ranking among the top five in three other categories on the way to being chosen first-team all-league. She was named the conference player of the week on three occasions and also selected to the Sun Belt all-tournament team as well.
Chyna Ellis became the all-time block leader in Sun Belt history the previous season as she was just the fourth Jaguar ever — and first since the 1989-90 campaign — to record a triple-double. She was also selected as the Sun Belt’s Defensive Player of the Year for the second time in her career as she set a new single-season mark for blocks for the second straight year while becaming the first Jag to eclipse the 100-block mark after ending the year with 107. Behind her efforts, South Alabama led the nation in blocks with 254. Ellis (three times) and Lewis (once) also earned Sun Belt Player-of-the-Week honors during the season.
Ellis averaged 3.1 rejections per game as a juior to top the Sun Belt and rank seventh in the NCAA in the category. She recorded a block in each game played, was ninth in the nation and first in the conference in total blocked shots (93), and set a then single-season record for most blocks in program history. Her total number of blocks were more than seven of the schools in the conference have as a team. Ellis became the schools’ all-time leader in career blocks after recording a game-high and season-high six rejections against Appalachian State that gave her 212 career rejections.Â
As a sophomore, Ellis continued her development under Jackson’s tutelage ranking as one to the top post defenders nationally. For the second consecutive season, Ellis led the Sun Belt in blocks and ranked 22nd in the NCAA in that category — fourth-most among sophomores nationally — with 2.73 per game. Her 82 blocks were 24th-most nationally and were four blocks shy of tying the single-season mark of 86 set by LaShanda Jenkins during the ‘82-83 season. Ellis recorded five or more blocks six times during the season and in her 20 conference games she averaged 3.05 per outing including recording two or more blocks in 26 of her 30 games. She was fifth in the SBC on the glass with 7.7 rpg and was named the conference’s Defensive Student-Athlete of the Year — the first Jag to ever earn that honor — while also receiving third-team all-SBC honors.
With Jackson’s help, Ellis came in and had an immediate impact during her freshman season as she led the Sun Belt with 2.0 blocks per outing. Her 56 blocks were the most ever by a freshman at South Alabama, and she ranked fifth in the Sun Belt with 7.8 rebounds per game while shooting 41.1 percent from the field as well.
Ellis ended her career with 338 career blocks and also left the program ranked third in rebounding (985), fifth in double-doubles (29) and 12th at South Alabama in scoring with 1,247 points. A three-time all-Sun Belt Conference selection, she became the first player since Whitney Woodard during the 2003-04 season to be named first-team all-league in 2017-18.
In Jackson’s first year with the Jaguars, senior forward Ronneka Robertson ranked fourth in the Sun Belt in rebounding with 8.3 per game and 14th in the conference in field-goal percentage after knocking down 44.8 percent of her shot attempts.
In her three seasons at Air Force, she served as the recruiting coordinator and was primarily responsible for the Falcons’ post players. In her first season at the Academy in 2010-11, Jackson helped the program to the second-most conference wins in its Division-I history after the program had not won a Mountain West Conference game the previous two seasons.
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. Jackson helped KSU’s transition to Division I from Division II while in Kennesaw, and during the 2007-08 and 2008-09 seasons, she helped the program to the most wins in its Division I history (15).
Jackson’s strong recruiting efforts assisted in the Owl’s increasing their talent over her three years as recruiting coordinator. Her 2009 class ranked as the top recruiting class in the Atlantic Sun.  Her 2010 recruiting class consisted of future unanimous A-Sun Freshman of the Year Taylor Mills.  Jackson was also responsible for recruiting and coaching Atlantic Sun Player of the Year Britteny Henderson (2007-08) and A-Sun all-freshman selections Rosetta Hollis (2006-07), Brandi Jones (2009-10) and Sametria Gideon (2009-10).
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.
Jackson arrived at KSU in 2005 after a successful playing career at Jacksonville University. She ended her stellar playing career as the second player in JU history to score over 1,000 points for her career, finishing with 1,070. She also left the Dolphins as the single-season record holder for points per game, free throws made and free throws attempted, as well as career free throws made (325). Jackson was an Atlantic Sun academic all-conference selection and two-time team MVP, but had her career limited by a pair of knee injuries suffered in her junior year and the latter half of her senior season.
She is a member of both the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association and the Black Coaches Association.
Jackson a native of Clarksville, Tenn., received her bachelor’s degree from Jacksonville in physical education in 2005. She is the daughter of Austin Peay State Hall of Famer Howard Jackson.
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