Cleveland Jackson Rejoins Coaching Ranks

Cleveland Jackson, formerly with the Dawgs' 1993 and 1994 hoops teams, was recently named assistant men's basketball coach at Belmont Abbey College.

Jackson came to UGA from Butler Community College in Kansas, where he averaged 26 points and 9 rebounds per game and was named Junior College Player of the Year. He was recruited to Georgia by head coach Hugh Durham and assistant coach Mark Slonaker, joining a star-studded signing class that included Carlos Strong, Pertha Robinson, Terrell Bell and Shandon Anderson. Cleveland averaged 9 points and 3 rebounds per game during his UGA playing career and was the leading scorer for Coach Durham's 500th win.

After graduating in 1994, followed by a brief stint playing overseas and a period of time coaching at the high school level, Jackson was again called by Mark Slonaker, who had become the head coach at Mercer University. This time, Slonaker asked Jackson to join his staff as an assistant coach. Jackson accepted and thereafter coached at Mercer for seven years.

I believe that Jackson is taking the assistant coaching position recently vacated by Jonas Hayes, when Hayes left to join the UGA staff.

Cleveland is a sharp guy and I couldn't be happier for him and his family.

Congratulations, Coach Jackson!

Pertha Robinson Goes Up

Maybe not as high up as he used to go, but he is still out there playing the game.

The Albany Legends basketball game was held a couple of weeks ago in Albany, Georgia. The younger players held on at the end to win the game.

Legends

There are some good players outside of metro Atlanta, too. They don't get the same amount of coverage, but maybe Fox can find a "Pertha Robinson" or a "Chris Daniels" type of athlete by broadening UGA's recruiting base to find the talented guys in some of Georgia's second-tier cities (Albany, Columbus, Macon, Savannah).