Ben Arthur |
Eric Jackson sports a black suit and periwinkle tie at every home game. He always sits in the same spot near the top of the Pilots bench. The game against Gonzaga was no different. He sat, eyes darting back and forth following the action of the game. When the Bulldogs gain possession, Jackson erupts into life.
“Let’s get a three banger!” he barks.
Pilot bigs and guards lock in on defense.
Jackson notices a Gonzaga player is left open at the top of the key and he stands abruptly. He motions furiously for someone to check the shooter as the ball swings over. Frustration is visible on his face when the shot goes in. The Pilot defenders were too late to block the shot.
Jackson, the assistant head coach of the men’s basketball team, preaches defense on the court, but he does not only coach his players in basketball skills. He also guides players off the court.
He’ll shoot players a text after practice to check in if they seemed distracted. Jackson will grab dinner with them to discuss personal issues. He was there for junior guard Alec Wintering when his mother went through breast cancer.
“He’ll hit me up and be like, ‘Yo, you need something?’” Wintering said. “He knows me well enough to understand if I’m going through something.”
He sees his role as being a lot greater than that of a basketball coach. He watches the development of players through college, a pivotal transition in their journey.
He takes a father-figure role on The Bluff.
“I consider all my basketball teammates and kids that I’ve coached like family,” Jackson said.
Jackson is in his ninth season coaching his “kids” on the Pilots’ sideline. He has played a crucial role in basketball players’ development since stepping foot on UP’s campus. Head coach Eric Reveno said Jackson’s ability to connect with other coaches, parents and players makes him invaluable in recruiting.
“He is one of the most passionate teachers I’ve ever worked with,” Reveno said. “He is a personable recruiter and an extraordinary mentor for our guys.”
He may be that way now, but Jackson hasn’t always pictured himself coaching.
After a four-year playing career at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, he took a job making commercials for a cable advertising company. One day, he got a call from head coach Paul DeNoble at St. Norbert College in DePere, Wisconsin. DeNoble wanted to implement some of the defensive techniques that Jackson ran at Green Bay. Jackson hesitantly agreed to come by practice that day. He came back the next day. Then a third time the day after that.
Jackson became a full-time assistant coach and soon after, began making recruiting calls. Slowly but surely, he came to realize coaching was his calling.
“I feel like if those coaches didn’t know what they knew, I don’t know if I would be coaching (today). I wasn’t looking to go down that route,” Jackson said.
After four seasons at St. Norbert, he went on to coach at the University of Utah, Indiana and Wyoming before coming to The Bluff in 2006.
Jackson’s high energy level has not wavered since joining Portland’s coaching staff. Whether the Pilots are in the thick of a close game or at the back-end of a long practice, he’s fired up — in the best of ways. His passion is apparent to players and coaches while he leads drills and draws up defensive schemes during game timeouts. Jackson says he is careful not to coddle players.
Jackson’s father, his coach in high school, showed him that sugar coating weaknesses does not help players improve.
“It’s not personal,” Jackson said. “The effort or the results we’re getting are not satisfactory. To be able to have that conversation (with players) is a huge part of being a coach.”
Wintering is no exception to Jackson’s “tough love” approach even as a leader on the team.
“He says what needs to be said, not what we want to hear,” Wintering said. “It’s just being comfortable with each other and understanding that he wants what is best for us.”
He’ll let players know when they make a bad play. But his relationships with players are give and take. Jackson said that he pushes players to reach their maximum capabilities on the court, but it comes from a place of love. Jackson’s relatives live over 2,000 miles away in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. To fill the hole that has left, Jackson has adopted UP players and fellow coaches as his extended family. The relationships go beyond the basketball court. When Jackson is not binge-watching adventure movies in the offseason, he’ll go bowling or argue sports.
His skills interacting off the court has helped UP basketball attract talent on the hardwood, and he is already securing recruits in the high school junior class.
“He can talk hoops, but he’s not limited,” Reveno said. “ He has a really good breadth so when you put him in recruiting situations, he presents well.”
But back on the court, the faces on the Pilots grow anxious. Gonzaga has started to find a grove midway through the first half. Portland’s starters check back in. Freshman guard Jazz Johnson subs out. Jackson stops Johnson on his way down the bench, beckoning for him to take a seat next to him.
There is no yelling, although he is capable. There is no screaming, although he had been earlier. Despite being down by 20 points, Jackson cracks a half smile and points to his clipboard.
Jackson doesn’t give Johnson an earful of what he did wrong.
He breaks down what he could have done better.
“They’re not just my players,” Jackson said. “I talk about them as being players, but they’ve become like my kids. I care about what’s going on in their lives.”
Ben Arthur is a sports reporter for the Beacon. He can be reached by email at arthur17@up.edu or on Twitter @KingArthur_425.
