Antwon Jackson joins the NIU men’s basketball staff as an assistant coach prior to the 2025-26 season. Jackson comes to DeKalb following three seasons as an assistant at Murray State.
During his time with the Racers, Jackson helped the team transition into the Missouri Valley Conference, winning 17 games, including 11 conference games, in their first season in 2022-23. He helped mentor Rob Perry to All-MVC honors that same season.
Before his time at Murray State, Jackson spent two years at East Carolina (2020-22) and one year at Virginia Tech (2019-20), where he helped Lander Nolley earn ACC All-Freshman Team recognition, along with USBWA All-District honors.
Jackson spent seven years working for Mick Cronin at Cincinnati (2012-19). During his time with the Bearcats, Cincinnati had four NBA players, three All-Americans, 11 all-conference selections, two Defensive Player of the Year winners, two all-rookie team selections and one Sixth Man of the Year winner. Gary Clark (2017-18) and Jarron Cumberland (2018-19) were named American Athletic Conference Player of the Year and Cincinnati won the AAC Tournament title in both 2018 and 2019.
Also during his time at Cincinnati, Jackson was invited to the NCAA’s prestigious Achieving Coaching Excellence (ACE) program during the summer of 2016, where he was put through an intensive development program for preparation of career advancement.
Jackson began his collegiate coaching career at William & Mary under Tony Shaver from 2005-08, where the Tribe improved by nine wins over his time and had a pair of all-league and a pair of all-rookie honorees. He then spent three years at UMass (2009-12), helped the Minutemen win 25 games in 2011-12 while helping mentor three All-Atlantic 10 selections.
Prior to his time coaching collegiately, Jackson was an assistant coach at Bishop McNamara High School in Forestville, Md., from 2001-04 and Paul VI High School in Fairfax, Va., during the 2004-05 season. He also worked with AAU programs DC Assault and Maryland Select, working with many NCAA Division I and NBA players. Along with his coaching positions, Jackson spent 11 years at KPMG, LLP in Washington, D.C., and McLean, Va.
Jackson played collegiately at Pikeville College, where he earned a degree in business management and accounting in 1993. He was a Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference honorable mention selection his junior and senior seasons while leading his team in assists.
