Missouri has a new baseball coach with Kirkwood and HBCU connections, and the hiring is of historic proportion.
Kerrick Jackson will take over as Mizzou’s 15th baseball coach, becoming the first Black man to lead a Southeastern Conference baseball team.
He played baseball for Kirkwood High School, St. Louis Community College – Meramec, Bethune-Cookman University, and the University of Nebraska before becoming a scout and entering coaching.
Jackson is quite familiar with Columbia, Mo.
He served as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Mizzou from 2011-15. The Tigers played in the Big 12 Conference Tournament Championship in 2011-12, winning the program’s first Big 12 title in 2012.
Jackson also helped recruit multiple nationally ranked classes, including 24th in 2012, 12th in 2014 and a consensus Top-30 class in 2015.
“It’s a great honor to come back to the University of Missouri and lead the baseball program,” Jackson said in a release.
“I have seen this program at its championship best and understand both what it takes to get there and the importance of baseball to the state, region and within the Southeastern Conference.”
As with football, the SEC is the dominant conference in college baseball. Jackson’s coaching and recruiting success was put in full display once he became the Southern University baseball coach in 2018.
During his three years at the HBCU, Southern went from nine wins in 2018 to 32 victories a season later. The 2019 squad won the SWAC conference championship, and reached the NCAA Tournament, earning Jackson SWAC and Louisiana Sports Writers Association Coach of the Year awards.
He took the helm at Memphis in 2021 and the Tigers posted 29 victories this season, the team’s first winning campaign since 2017.
He has excelled as a coach at every level of college basketball. He was an assistant coach at St. Louis Community College-Meramec (2008), Nicholls State (2006-07), Jefferson (Mo.) College (2004-05), Coffeyville (Kan.) Community College (2003), Emporia State (2002) and Fairfield (2001).
“We set out to find a leader of high character with success rejuvenating a program, and we certainly found that in Kerrick Jackson,” Missouri Director of Athletics Desireé Reed-Francois said.
The Tigers went 28-20 in 2023, but just 10-20 in SEC play. Former head coach Steve Bieser was fired May 28 after seven seasons.
Reed-Francois called Jackson “a tireless recruiter, fierce competitor and a coach with deep roots in the Midwest.”
“Coach Jackson knows what success looks like in college baseball, specifically at Mizzou.”
Jackson helped Meramec finish third at the JUCO World Series in 1995. He then led HBCU Bethune-Cookman University to its first-ever conference championship and regional appearance in 1996. Jackson concluded his playing career at the University of Nebraska in 1997, graduating in 1999 with a bachelor’s degree in Sociology.
Jackson also serves on the American Baseball Coaches Association Board of Directors and chairs its Diversity in Baseball committee.
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