Jeff Jackson Assistant Coach Fourth season at Vanderbilt Cornell, 1984

Stallings went looking for an assistant coach with a proven track record as a recruiter at a prestigious academic institution like Vanderbilt.

He found that and much more when he named Jeff Jackson his assistant.

Jackson, 40, has an impressive resume that includes four years as the recruiting coordinator at Stanford.

During his tenure at Stanford, the Cardinal averaged more than 20 victories per season and made its first-ever back-to-back appearances in the NCAA Tournament.

The 1995-96 Stanford squad was ranked as high as No. 15 in the USA Today Coaches Poll. A No. 9 seed in the NCAA Tournament, Stanford beat Bradley in the opening round before losing to eventual Final Four participant UMass.

Stanford's 1995-96 freshman class was tabbed by Ultimate Sports Magazine as "Stanford's Fab Four Freshmen." Three of the Cardinal freshmen earned Pac-10 postseason honors.

In 1996, Jackson made his head coaching debut when he took over a struggling New Hampshire program that had won more than 10 games in a season only twice since 1984.

Jackson led the Wildcats to a 7-20 mark his first season and improved to 10-17 in 1997-98. His 1998-99 recruiting class was ranked 15th by Mike Sheridan of Eastern Basketball Magazine, the first time in school history a UNH recruiting class had ever been ranked by any magazine.

A 1984 graduate of Cornell, Jackson began his coaching career as a grad assistant at USC in 1985. He also worked as an assistant coach at St. Bonaventure (1986-89) and Colorado State (1989-92) before accepting a position at Stanford.

Jackson and his wife, Carolyn, have three children, Xavier, Jenai and Taylor.