Former Hornet volleyball player Ed Jackson will enter his 10th season as Sacramento State’s indoor assistant coach in 2024. He has also served as the Hornets’ beach co-head coach since 2016.
During Jackson’s nine seasons with the indoor program, Sacramento State has combined for an 165-109 overall record and a 103-44 mark in league play. In addition, the team is 63-10 in Big Sky regular season home matches during his tenure. The Hornets won two Big Sky regular season championships (2023, 2017) and posted back-to-back Big Sky South Division championships (2017, 2016).
In fact, the Hornets haven’t finished below .500 in league play in any of his nine seasons, and have finished fifth or higher in the standings every year of his tenure.
In 2023, Sacramento State won its first Big Sky regular season championship since 2017 while going 22-12 overall, 13-3 in league play, and 13-5 at home. The 22 wins were the most in six years, and the team never lost more than two straight matches. The Hornets qualified for the NIVC for the fifth time in program history, and won a match at the postseason tournament (sweep of UNLV) for the first time since 1995.
Five players were named all-conference (most since 2016), and three were named to the first team - Bridgette Smith, Tiyanane Kamba-Griffin and Kalani Hayes. In fact, Smith was named honorable mention All-America and Big Sky MVP. She became just the second Hornet during the Div. I era (1991-pres.) to receive All-America accolades.
Because of the regular season championship, Sacramento State will host the Big Sky Tournament in November of 2024.
At home, the Hornets have been dominant over the last four seasons, combining to go 27-5 against Big Sky opposition at the Nest.
Jackson made an immediate impact in 2015 (his first season on the coaching staff). That 2015 squad posted a 26-7 overall record and a 12-4 mark in league. Despite Sacramento State being picked 10th out of 12 teams in the Big Sky’s preseason coaches poll, the Hornets finished the regular season with the third best conference record. Moreover, Sacramento State made an 18-win improvement over the 2014 season with nearly the same roster. The 18-win improvement was the best mark in the nation among the NCAA’s 329 Div. I volleyball programs.
Academically, Sacramento State has combined for 57 Big Sky all-academic selections (updated summer 2023) during his first eight seasons.
In addition, he helped usher in an on-campus beach volleyball facility in April of 2021. The 26,000 square foot complex, which has a seating capacity of 250 spectators, took four months to build and is located on the west side of campus. Prior to the inception of Hornet Beach, the team had practiced and played its matches at locations that were 20-30 minute drives from campus.
Jackson, who was inducted into the Sacramento State men’s volleyball Hall of Fame in 2009, played four seasons for the Hornets (1992-94, 1997), was a two-time All-American and helped lead the Hornets to a Collegiate Club Volleyball National Championship in 1997. Jackson and current Sacramento State head coach Ruben Volta were teammates for the Hornets in 1992 and 1993.
The San Diego native has 24 years of collegiate volleyball coaching experience, which includes serving as head coach of Div. II Academy of Art in San Francisco before coming to Sacramento State. Prior to that, he had assistant coaching stops at Fresno State, William & Mary and UC Santa Barbara, and was the recruiting coordinator at both Fresno State and William & Mary. He also oversaw a beach volleyball training program at Academy of Art, and helped with a sand training program at Fresno State.
Jackson spent three years (2012-14) at Academy of Art, where the Urban Knights improved their overall and conference records each season of his tenure. During his final season, he coached the program’s first All-American in outside hitter Melissa Brum, and the Knights captured the program’s first AVCA Team Academic Award with a 3.35 team grade point average in 2013.
At Fresno State (2008-11), Jackson was the top assistant and helped coach the Bulldogs to improved records during his four seasons. He was the team’s recruiting coordinator, trained the setters, oversaw all aspects of video technology, and helped with the team’s in-match strategy.
Prior to Fresno State, Jackson was the associate head coach at William & Mary. He spent five seasons (2003-07) assisting in the turnaround of a program that went from seven wins to 22 wins in three years. During his time at William & Mary, Jackson was responsible for recruiting, practice planning, video analysis and in-match strategy.
Before joining the staff at William & Mary, Jackson was an assistant coach at UC Santa Barbara for one season (2002) where he helped coach the team to a 30-3 overall record, an 18-0 Big West Conference mark and a Sweet 16 appearance at the NCAA Championships. He assisted in the development of two AVCA All-Americans along with four first team All-Big West Conference selections.
Jackson also coached the men’s club program at UC Davis in 1998, and served as a graduate assistant during the 1994-95 academic year for the women’s team at Eastern Illinois. On the prep level, Jackson served as the director of volleyball and head coach of the varsity team at Sacramento’s Rio Americano High School, compiling a combined record of 39-6 in two seasons (1999-00). Under Jackson, the Raiders advanced to at least the quarterfinal round of the state championship tournament both years (including the semifinals in 1999), and won the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Sac-Joaquin sectional championships both seasons.
As a player at Sacramento State, Jackson played at three different positions during his four seasons, including two years at outside hitter, one season at setter and one season as the team’s rightside hitter. His All-American seasons came at two different positions, including outside hitter in 1992 and rightside hitter in 1997.
Jackson has both a bachelor’s degree (1994, psychology) and teaching credential (1999, physical education) from Sacramento State, and added a master’s degree in physical education from Eastern Illinois in 1995.
Jackson has two children, Eddie and Kellan.
