Jim Jackson enters his third year with the USD football program, and will again coach the Torero offensive line unit. In 2015 he saw four senior starters from his unit graduate that played a key role in USD's success the past four seasons. Left tackle Pono Keni and right guard Jeff Starr were both selected to the 2015 All-PFL First Team. Jackson's lone returning starter for 2016 is junior right tackle Miles McArdle. Prior to USD, Jackson coached eleven straight years for six different collegiate programs.
In 2013 he wrapped up his fourth year at Southern Illinois University. Besides coaching the tight ends, the last two seasons (2012, 2013) he was the Saluki Recruiting Coordinator. Jackson played a key role in developing tight end MyCole Pruitt who earned first team All-America honors in 2013. He finished the regular season with 601 receiving yards and became SIU's all-time leader in career receptions (140) and receiving yards (1,740) by a tight end. Pruitt was a third-team All-America selection by The Sports Network and named to the All-MVFC First Team in 2012. In 2011, he was an honorable mention All-Conference selection and earned a spot on the MVFC All-Newcomer team
In 2010, his first year at Southern Illinois, Jackson's tight ends were instrumental in helping the Saluki offense average 30.1 points per game and 378.2 yards of total offense. The tight ends, playing a major role in run blocking, helped pave the way for the Saluki rushing attack that averaged 189.5 yards per game and scored 22 touchdowns on the year. Kyle Harruff tied for the team lead with three touchdown receptions under Jackson's guidance and Harruff had 17 catches for 294 yards - an average of 17.3 yards per reception. Fellow tight ends C.J. Robertson, Philip Schumacher and tight end/fullback John Goode also hauled in touchdown catches in 2010. Goode was a second team All-MVFC selection in 2010 under Jackson.
Jackson came to Southern Illinois from the University of Minnesota, where he was an assistant offensive line coach from 2007-09. In 2007, Jackson helped coach the Gopher offensive front that ranked 10th in the nation in sacks allowed (13 total). He worked directly with the Gopher centers along with his various other coaching duties. Prior to joining the Minnesota staff, Jackson spent one season as a defensive graduate assistant working with the defensive line at Louisiana-Lafayette. Before that, Jackson spent the 2005 season as a graduate assistant working as video coordinator and with the offensive line at Toledo, and in 2004 he served as assistant defensive backs coach and assistant video coordinator at Lehigh. He started his coaching career in 2003 as the outside linebackers coach at Methodist (N.C.) College.
Jackson played both football and baseball at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. He was a three-year starter on the baseball team and a team captain and played two seasons on the football team. A Mesquite, Texas native, Jackson received his bachelor's degree in communications from Cornell in 2003. He earned his master's degree from Minnesota in sports management in 2009.
He and his wife Michelle married in July 2011 and have one daughter, Mae, and one son, Grant.
