KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – After a two-year stint as the program’s volunteer assistant coach, Richard Jackson has been elevated to a full-time assistant, Tennessee head baseball coach Tony Vitello announced on Thursday.
Following a change by the NCAA this offseason to allow schools to add a third full-time assistant coach, Jackson was the clear choice to fill the role for the Big Orange after helping lead the program to unprecedented success during his tenure as a player and coach.
“Loyalty and family are two things that everyone in our group takes very seriously, not just with words but with actions,” Vitello said. “Richard was a great teammate and competitor as a player and continues to be both of those things regardless of his title.”
A former pitcher for the Volunteers from 2015-19, Jackson parlayed his knowledge to the coaching ranks following his playing career, joining UT’s staff as a student assistant for the 2020 season before being promoted to volunteer assistant following the 2021 season.
During his four years on staff, Jackson has worked closely with pitching coach Frank Anderson developing Tennessee’s pitchers and preparing them for SEC play.
“He’s been a huge part of our success since he’s started coaching,” Anderson said. “He works extremely hard and is very well organized. Every year he’s become more knowledgeable and continued to grow as a coach. He has an extremely bright future as a pitching coach.”
UT boasted one of the country’s top pitching staffs in 2023 and finished the year ranked among the top five nationally in ERA (2nd – 3.63), WHIP (2nd – 1.16), strikeout-to-walk ratio (2nd – 4.03), shutouts (3rd – 9), total strikeouts (3rd – 738), strikeouts per nine innings (3rd – 11.7), hits allowed per nine innings (4th – 7.51) and walks allowed per nine innings (4th – 2.90) to help lead the Vols to their second College World Series appearance in three years.
Tennessee also had a program-record six pitchers drafted in the 2023 Major League Baseball Draft, highlighted by first-rounder Chase Dollander, who became UT’s highest-drafted pitcher straight out of college in program history when he was selected by the Colorado Rockies with the No. 9 overall pick.
The pitching staff played a major part in the Volunteers record-setting 2022 season that saw the program reach No. 1 in the polls for the first time in its history and win a school-record 57 games en route to SEC regular season and SEC Tournament titles. Working under Anderson, Jackson helped develop a staff that finished No. 1 nationally in ERA (2.51), strikeout-to-walk ratio (4.24), WHIP (1.00) and walks allowed per nine innings (2.48). The Vols also set single-season program records in ERA , WHIP, opponent batting average (.199), strikeouts (695), strikeouts/nine innings (10.5) and walks allowed/nine innings.
In 2021, Tennessee ranked in the top 10 nationally in strikeout-to-walk ratio (2nd – 3.63), walks allowed/nine innings (3rd – 2.49), WHIP (5th – 1.16) and ERA (10th – 3.51) as the Big Orange won 50 games for just the third time in program history and advanced to the College World Series for the first time since 2005.
Prior to entering the coaching ranks, Jackson spent five years as a pitcher for the Orange and White, helping lead UT to an NCAA Regional during his final season in 2019, ending a 13-year NCAA Tournament drought for the Volunteers.