HEAD COACH | CORNELIUS 'CORNY' JACKSON
Cornelius "Corny" Jackson, who played for Marshall from 1998-01, was named as Marshall Men's Basketball Head Coach on March 25, 2024.
Jackson spent the 2017-18 through the 2022-23 season as an assistant coach on the staff before being named associate head coach prior to the 2023-24 season.
Jack helped mentor many student-athletes since coming to Marshall with one of those being Taevion Kisney. Kinsey was a four-time all-conference player during his time at Marshall, including being first team all-Sun Belt and the SBC Player of the Year during the 2022-23 season along with becoming the program's all-time leading scorer.
In 2018-19, Jackson helped guide The Herd to the 2019 CIT Championship, just the second postseason tournament championship in program history.
With Jackson's assistance in the 2017-18 season, Marshall reached the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 31 seasons and it secured the program's first ever NCAA Tournament win. Jackson helped coach a program that won Conference USA for the first time ever, beat multiple ranked teams for the first time in Thundering Herd history, have three players earn all-conference honors and win 25 games.
This year’s Thundering Herd vanquished its postseason demons, captured its first Conference USA championship and received a Big Dance berth for the first time in 31 years. What followed elevated a season from unusual to unrivaled, as the Herd became the 28th No. 13 seed in the 34 years since the NCAA tournament expanded to 64 teams (now 68) to defeat a No. 4 seed (Wichita State). That was Marshall’s first tournament win.
The Herd had never defeated multiple Top 25 teams in the same season, as it did in 2017-18, and records fell by the wayside. Jackson assisted with a MU team that broke multiple records, including the most points (3,017), most 3s (362) and most assists (615) by a Herd team in program history.
Other on the court honors included Jon Elmore, C.J. Burks and Ajdin Penava combining for six C-USA Player of the Week awards, three all-conference honors, one C-USA Tournament MVP, two all-tournament selections and one Defensive Player of the Year award. It was the second time three Marshall men’s basketball players have been named to all-conference team in the same year since Keith Veney, John Brannen and Sidney Coles accomplished that in 1997.
Off the court, Elmore was named to the All-Academic team to become the second player ever in program history to be selected for the team three different times. The team as a whole also thrived in the classroom, as it had a cumulative 3.22 GPA.
During his four seasons at Cleveland State, Jackson helped the program to 58 wins and a pair of berths in the CollegeInsider.com postseason tournament.
Jackson worked with the Viking big men on the court and is also responsible for helping to oversee game preparation, scouting and recruiting.
Jackso spent his last two seasons at UT Martin as assistant head coach. In 2011-12, Jackson oversaw the development of Myles Taylor, who was the Ohio Valley Conference Freshman of the Year and also earned a spot on the all-newcomer team. In his first season as the recruiting coordinator, Jackson secured one of the top classes in program history as UT Martin’s freshmen trio combined to win eight Ohio Valley Conference Freshman of the Week awards, marking just the third time that one school earned that many mentions in a single season since the league created the award in 1978-79.
In 2010-11, UT Martin tripled its win total from the previous season and earned its first-ever OVC Tournament victory with Jackson on staff.
Prior to joining the staff at UT Martin, Jackson was an assistant head coach at West Virginia State University for six years (2003-09), including the last three as assistant head coach. He was responsible for all recruiting and scheduling at West Virginia State, while coordinating the video film exchange, scouting opponents and assisting with the development of game plans.
He was part of five teams that won at least 20 games and captured three NCAA tournament bids. During his six seasons at West Virginia State, Jackson was part of 148 wins, including back-to-back conference championships for the first time in school history.
Jackson signed with Tennessee out of high school and started 20 of 27 games for the Vols as a freshman. He transferred to Marshall, where he was the starting point guard and team captain for three years. He was also the only Herd player to start every game during his career, leading the Mid-American Conference in assists as a junior and senior.
After graduation, Jackson was drafted by the Roanoke Dazzle of the National Basketball Development League (NBDL). He also played professionally in Germany and Austria.
Jackson was an All-American and the West Virginia high school Player of the Year in 1996 when he averaged 28.0 points, 5.9 rebounds and 5.5 assists at Oak Hill High School.
Jackson earned a Bachelor's Degree in Sociology from Marshall University. He is married to wife Erica. Jackson's twin daughters Tiara and Valessa Jackson are both proud graduates of Marshall University.