Bright yellow lights illuminate the Carver Gym floor, basketballs thud repetitively and sneakers squeak simultaneously to make a thunderous basketball musical. One voice can be heard over the racket, a voice that has echoed throughout the Carver Gym walls for a quarter century.

It belongs to Western head basketball coach Brad Jackson, who is running another Vikings evening practice.

“Push it, push it, let’s work hard and get better today!” Jackson yells.

Jackson is entering his 25th season as head coach, making him not only the longest tenured basketball coach at Western, but the longest tenured coach of any sport in the history of the university.

Jackson has accomplished many feats in his illustrious career. He has a 63.4 winning percentage and has won 445 games with the Viking men.

Jackson has enjoyed 10 20-win seasons and six national tournament appearances, including the Vikings' remarkable run to the national semifinals in 2001. Jackson has also received conference coach-of-the-year honors six times, is a former chair of the NCAA Rules Committee and was a rules committee representative from 2002-2007.  

Behind all of Jackson’s accolades is a man who loves to teach and make an impact on young players' lives.

Jackson said he views his position as head coach as a teaching tool he can use to make students better as people and as players.

“I look at basketball the same way I look at teaching,” Jackson said. “Whether it’s math, science or basketball, it’s all the same as far as teaching goes, but the subject matter is a little different. I feel like I have one of the greatest classrooms anyone could ask for because I have highly motivated students and tests are very visible. I have the opportunity to watch players grow on and off the court; players can take things they learn and apply them to a lot of areas of life.”

There are many reasons why Jackson has been with Western for such a long time. He said other options have presented themselves in the past but were not the right fit for him.

Jackson said one reason for staying is his love for the Bellingham area. He said it is a great place to raise a family. Another contributing factor is his fortune to work with Lynda Goodrich, whom Jackson said is an amazing athletic director. With all these contributing factors, Jackson said he has not seen much of a reason to leave Bellingham.

He said most coaches come up with some sort of philosophy they follow and build their program around. Jackson is no different. The Vikings have a saying, “We want to work hard and get better every day.”

“We want players to understand they’ve been given an ability,” Jackson said. “We want our players to utilize these abilities the best way they can and max out their potential. Our overarching philosophy is that we want our kids to become the best they can on and off the court.”

Jackson said he believes communication is the key to any successful team or organization. He said if coaches make careful, thoughtful, calculated decisions, they can usually work issues out.

“Well I’m not perfect and I’ve definitely butted heads with players in the past, but something you have to realize as a coach is that you’re not going to please everyone,” Jackson said. “One of the biggest keys to a strong player-coach relationship is communication. If you’re forthright, open and honest you can usually come to a common ground.”

Western senior forward Michael Duty said Jackson is one of the most caring coaches he has had the opportunity to play for.

“He just wants you to be successful,” Duty said. “He cares a lot about his players on and off the court; he holds you accountable and wants you to work hard.”

Jackson said picking a single greatest experience during his 25-year tenure with Western is difficult because he has had the privilege to work with so many great people and has been fortunate enough to coach so many outstanding teams.

“For me personally, one of the most enjoyable and gratifying experiences I was allowed to have was coaching my son,” Jackson said. “A lot of high school coaches get to do that but a lot of college coaches don’t, so that was a very special thing.”

Jackson’s son, Kyle Jackson, is a Western alumnus who played for the Vikings from 2002 to 2006.

Jackson said he has been blessed to work with young people, and it just so happens that his vehicle to have an impact with them is basketball.

“Whether a player is an All-American or hardly gets off the bench, I hope I’m able to do my very best to help them be their very best,” Jackson said.

Western senior center Dave Vanderjagt said Jackson works as hard as anyone to make sure players are working hard.

“He cares a lot about his players,” Vanderjagt said. “He stays calm under pressure, he’s been around the game a long time and knows what he’s talking about. He does a good job of motivating you to motivate yourself.”

The one thing that Jackson said he wants all his players to feel once they leave his program is that it was a worthwhile experience.

“We want them to look back at their basketball experience and see that they’ve grown as a person and a basketball player,” Jackson said. “We want them to think they’ve been taught well and treated with respect and have hopefully maxed out their abilities with basketball and inside the classroom.”

The Vikings' 2009-10 season started off strong, recording a 2-1 record at the Disney Tip-Off Classic Oct. 30 to Nov.1.

Western senior guard Derrick Webb was named to the Disney Tip-Off Classic all-tournament team as well as Western senior and Tournament Most Valuable Player Michael Duty. The team is returning two starters and eight letter winners from the 2008-09 squad.

After 25 years, Jackson remains a staple of the Western basketball program. He continues to show up at Carver Gym, night in and night out, to teach his students the game of life and basketball.

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