BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Telegraph Staff Writer
A new era of Bradford High School boys basketball is set to begin for the second time since the Tornadoes won the state championship in 2022, but this time, the new head coach has a connection to that team that accomplished what no other team in program history had done.
Tarrin Jackson, an assistant coach on that title-winning team, now takes over for previous Head Coach Andree Thomas, who resigned after one season. Jackson has been involved with BHS basketball for four years as an assistant. The 2018 graduate, who also played for the Tornadoes, said it’s “surreal” to now be in charge of the team.
“To be presented with an opportunity like this is a blessing,” he said, adding, “It’s wild. It’s kind of like a dream.”
An opportunity to become the head coach was there for the 2022-23 season after Sampson Jackson stepped down as head coach to focus on his duties as athletic director. The timing for Tarrin Jackson, though, wasn’t quite right.
“I had to come to the realization that last year I wasn’t ready,” he said.
Jackson continued to serve as an assistant coach, though. He said last year’s experience helped prepare him. It was a season in which the players returning from the state-championship team decided not to play, forcing Bradford to go through a 1-18 season with most of its 14-man roster filled with freshmen.
“Going through what I went through last year and learning what I learned last year really showed me that, yeah, I’m definitely ready,” Jackson said.
Jackson said he learned more last season than he did during the season Bradford won state.
“I learned patience,” he said. “I learned how to control what you can control.”
Coaching was something Jackson began to think about when he was still a student at BHS. Talks with Adrian Chandler, who was the head coach at that time, served as the inspiration for such thinking.
“He used to tell me I had a coach-like mentality, a coach-like perspective,” Jackson said.
Prior to that, coaching wasn’t on his radar. As Jackson said, “I just came to school and played basketball.”
His first year of coaching took some getting used to. Jackson was in school at the same time as some of the players on the team. He described himself feeling more like a big brother than a coach.
“It was definitely a learning experience, learning how to talk to the kids a certain way and trying to get them to know the difference between friend and former teammate and coach,” Jackson said.
As a player, Jackson was part of a good senior season in which the Tornadoes went 21-9 and won a district championship. He was part of an even better season as an assistant coach in 2021-22. Bradford may not have won as many games that season (16-10), but the Tornadoes did win a district title in the midst of an eight-game winning streak that culminated with the program’s first-ever state championship.
“When the final buzzer went off, there were no words to describe that feeling,” Jackson said, adding, “It just felt amazing. A feeling I can’t describe.”
He did more than celebrate a state title that year. Jackson said he benefitted as a coach working alongside Head Coach Sampson Jackson and fellow assistants James McBride, Justin McBride and Mike McMillian.
“I was surrounded by a lot of great minds,” Jackson said.
In preparing for the role he has now, Jackson took things from the mind of each coach he’s worked with.
“I’ve kind of grasped different pieces from everybody and put it all together,” he said.
Jackson said he wants to lead the Tornadoes to another state championship, but the main goal this year is to improve upon last year’s one-win season. He feels good about that happening. When looking at the team’s 23-game regular-season schedule, Jackson said, “We should not lose any more than five games.”
The new coach said he wants Bradford to be that team that when opponents see the Tornadoes upcoming on their schedule, they dread having to play them. He wants the Tornadoes to play fast and to be aggressive on defense.
“Defense wins championships,” Jackson said. “We proved that theory in the (state-title) season.”
Coaching isn’t just trying to collect more wins than losses. It’s also about helping players experience growth over the course of a season.
“If you have a kid who’s averaging six points and five fouls a game, and by the end of the season he’s averaging 11 points and two fouls, you know that what you did during the season has worked,” Jackson said.
That’s a different type of win than the one dictated by the numbers on the scoreboard. As a coach, Jackson said he’s looking for those other types of victories.
“Say we’re horrible at taking charges, but in (a particular) game, we take six charges,” Jackson said. “That’s a win. You try to find the wins within the game.”
Another win is the fact that Jackson has a mentor in Sampson Jackson. Sampson Jackson was just a phone call away as athletic director, Tarrin Jackson said. Now, though, Sampson Jackson has returned to coaching as well, taking over the head job for the varsity girls program.
“We’re literally in the gym together every day,” Tarrin Jackson said. “If he’s practicing, and I see something, I ask him a question. If I’m practicing, and he sees something, he asks me a question.
“We see each other every day, so the communication is there.”
Sampson Jackson, when interviewed for a story about being the new girls head coach, said he wants to assist Tarrin Jackson in any way he can. Tarrin, who described Sampson Jackson as like a big brother, said that means a lot.
“Most people put you in a position and let you learn on your own,” he said, “but for him to want to hold my hand and guide me through this year and whatever comes after that is huge. That speaks to who he is as a person. He’s very helpful. He’s not self-centered. He always puts other people first.”
Jackson is so eager to get his head-coaching career underway that during his Nov. 17 interview for this story, he said, “I wish it started tomorrow.”
He’ll have a little while to wait still. The Tornadoes will play their first game on Tuesday, Dec. 12, when they travel to play West Nassau at 7:30 p.m. Bradford will then play three more road games (Trinity Catholic on Dec. 15 at 7:30 p.m., Tocoi Creek on Dec. 18 at 7:30 p.m. and Baldwin on Dec. 19 at 7 p.m.) before finally playing at home against Hawthorne on Thursday, Dec. 21, at 7:30 p.m.
“I’m just ready to show (people) that it’s going to be totally different than last year,” Jackson said.
Jackson’s assistant coaches will be fellow 2018 BHS graduate Daren Mackey, 2016 BHS graduate Shawn Aaron and 2015 BHS graduate Alex Mejias.
“All people who know basketball and who I know are good people,” Jackson said.
