SF grad Jackson takes over as Los Altos girls basketball coach

Los Altos High’s new varsity girls basketball coach doesn’t have much experience – just one year as a junior-varsity assistant at St. Francis High – but Jacob Jackson’s passion for the game is undeniable. “I played it for a long time and have followed it up close. My fiancee will tell you that I spend a lot of time diagramming plays and breaking down tape – even when I’m not coaching,” the 25-year-old said days before his wedding last Saturday. “I love basketball.” That apparently came through when Jackson interviewed with Los Altos High administrators in June. “He’s very energetic and knowledgeable,” said athletic director Kim Cave. Jackson said he gained a lot of that knowledge during his time at St. Francis, from which he graduated in 2000. A three-sport athlete, he played two years in a boys basketball program guided by longtime coach Steve Filios. “He’s been my basketball mentor for a very long time,” said Jackson, who has coached at two of Filios’ summer camps. “He’s an outstanding coach.” After graduating from Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo, where he also received his teaching credential, Jackson returned to St. Francis as a teacher and coach in the 2005-06 school year. He coached the freshman baseball team and worked under girls varsity basketball coach Ashley Hill. “I learned so much from Ashley,” Jackson said. “She’s great at building a sense of family on her team. If the players on your team feel like a family, they’ll want to be there.” Which is exactly what Jackson aspires to build at Los Altos, where soccer, volleyball and water polo rule the school when it comes to girls team sports. “It’s about making it fun,” the coach said of attracting more players to the team. “You want the practices to be fun and for the girls to have positive relationships with each other.” Jackson takes over a program that’s been as consistent as a lopsided basketball. The Eagles have made the playoffs just once in the last five seasons (2003-04) and are on their fourth head coach this decade. Jackson’s predecessor, Scott Green, was dismissed after one year despite the team winning twice as many games as the previous season (from 5-16 to 10-15) and falling one vote shy of a playoff berth. Expect Los Altos to have a different look under Jackson. Defensively, he wants to use a mix of zone and man (the Eagles played strictly man last season) and press more. Offensively, he wants to push the ball. “I want us to keep the intensity up and dictate the tempo – like the Phoenix Suns and North Carolina,” Jackson said. “We want to get as many possessions as possible, take more shots (than the opponent) and press constantly.” And Jackson vowed that his players will be prepared for anything an opponent throws at them. “I think it’s very important that my girls never see something in a game that they didn’t see in practice,” he said. Communication is also vital to Jackson. “I want to be a good communicator with the players and the parents, and I want them to feel comfortable talking to me,” he said. “I don’t want a toxic environment – I won’t put down a player in front of other players and they won’t either. Another one of my rules is that if parents want to talk to me about things like playing time, we will not talk about other people’s daughters.” Jackson, who will teach English at Del Mar High this fall, said the attitude he brings to the classroom transfers to the court: “If the kids don’t know something, the first thing I look at is what I did wrong and how I can do it better. I go back to the drawing board.” Players and their parents can get to know Jackson and those coaching other sports at Los Altos at a “Meet the Coaches” event scheduled 5:30-6:30 p.m. Aug. 14 in the quad. Every team is expected to be represented.