Thomas "TJ" Jackson and Todd Lickliter first crossed paths in 1999 when Jackson was a sophomore at Butler University and Lickliter joined the staff as an assistant coach. Lickliter was Jackson's position coach for two years before taking over as the head coach in his senior season of 2001-02. That season saw the Bulldogs win what was at the time a school record 26 games. Fast forward 18 years later – the two have joined forces once again and hope to capture the same record-breaking magic.
Jackson was named to Lickliter's staff at the University of Evansville in July of 2020. While it is his first position coaching in the college ranks, he brings a wealth of experience from the NBA G-League along with international playing experience and a familiarity with what will be expected from Evansville's head coach.
"It is definitely an adjustment from the G-League to college. You have the recruiting aspect along with many other things outside of basketball that you need to be aware of," Jackson explained. "Obviously there are some different in-game rules along with the NCAA regulations as opposed to the G-League. I have had the opportunity to be around some terrific players – we were very connected with the NBA teams. I have seen what it takes to play at the highest level and that is something I can bring to our program."
Over the last three seasons, Jackson has worked with three G League organizations including the Erie BayHawks (2017-18), the Maine Red Claws (2018-19) and most recently the Northern Arizona Suns in the 2019-20 campaign. The NAZ Suns are located in Prescott Valley, Ariz., which is roughly a 90-minute drive to downtown Phoenix. He detailed how things operate at that level.
"The G League has become really connected with the main NBA teams – every NBA franchise now operates a team in the G League except for just a handful. They work directly with the NBA teams and that is why they are moving them closer if they were not already in the same area as the NBA team," Jackson illustrated. "In Arizona, it was great because we had access to the Phoenix Suns any time we wanted, we could go down there, watch games or practice and have conversations between staffs if we had questions. They were available for us any time and came to many of our games to keep up on how our guys were doing."
"Every year, the G-League coaching staff was in training camp with the NBA team because they had the same defensive and offensive concepts. With so much back and forth movement between the NBA team and the G League, it was important to have that familiarity."
Speaking of familiarity – Jackson has a head start on most assistant coaches who join a program. Having played for Lickliter at Butler for one season as head coach and two as an assistant, he knows what the goals are for the Purple Aces program in the coming years. This includes both on and off the floor. One of the most important aspects of this is being a family. The family atmosphere that is being created with the UE program is a lifetime commitment. It is not just the time a student-athlete is on campus playing for the team. That is just the start. Jackson exemplifies this very fact.
"Coach Lickliter and I stayed in contact the entire time since our days at Butler. I would either reach out to him or he would contact me just to see how things were going. Whenever I was in the area where he was coaching, I would make it a point to check in and see how he was doing," he continued. "I was able to visit him when he was the coach at Iowa and we met back up a few times when I was back in Indianapolis. He cares about each of his players – it is a genuine relationship. It all starts with recruiting – he brings in guys that he truly believes in and that are truly great people. He has always shown that with me and I have no doubt about him doing the same thing at Evansville."
While the opportunity to coach basketball at the professional level is something that meant the world to Jackson, the stability within the G-League did not allow him to be able to settle his family in a certain area. That is just the nature of the business. Over the last three years working in the G-League, Jackson lived on his own for seven months during the season in the United States, spending time in Pennsylvania, Maine and Arizona. His wife Lee and daughters Jamila (8) and Naomi (3) lived in Sweden full time, where Jackson would spend the remaining five months of the year.
The chance to be around his family every day and settled in one area was the ultimate goal and the opportunity to do so in Evansville checked all of the boxes they were looking at. Jackson explained that Lickliter reached out about joining the Evansville staff and that it was a no-brainer for him. Being a native of Michigan, he would be just a few hours from home. This proved to be important as the family navigated to Evansville during the COVID-19 pandemic.
At the end of July, they flew to Michigan where they stayed with Jackson's family for a few weeks until they closed on their house in Newburgh. Roughly three months into their new residence, the crew is settled in, his daughter is set up in school and things went almost as smoothly as they could during a pandemic. Almost. His wife is a native of Sweden and under the current situation, she was working to finalize her visa. Her 90-day visa was set to run out and she worked with the embassy to expedite her case. The easiest way to complete the process was for her to travel back to Sweden before returning to the United States. Following a month away, Lee returned to Evansville and it has been smooth sailing ever since.
In a unique side story – while his wife was in Sweden, TJ remained in Evansville with his two daughters. Adjusting to a new job and city is a challenge, but doing so on your own for a few weeks with two children is a daunting task. That is where the "family" mantra around this program comes back into the fold. Coach Lickliter's wife – Joez – volunteered to assist with the children. Joez took a very active role in helping with his youngest daughter – Naomi. We have all been around children of that age. They are full of energy and are always looking for the next activity to learn and stay busy and for Jackson to be able to have someone to depend on to assist while he became acclimated to the new job made things so much easier. While Jackson's mother assisted for first two weeks, the Lickliter's assisted in the final stretch until Lee returned.
"She did so much to help while my wife was away. They (Todd and Joez) have six grandchildren themselves, so having children around is something that they are used to. That relationship actually goes back to when my oldest daughter was born when we were living in Indianapolis," Jackson explained. "We went to his house almost every change that we got. Coach and his wife are like part of my family and for them to help out, it was huge."
TJ and his wife met during his time playing at the professional level in Sweden. He began is pro career in Sweden, where he spent most of his post-Butler playing days at. He also spent three seasons in the Netherlands and one in Germany.
"The highlight of my career in Europe was in the Netherlands in the 2010-11 season where we (B.S. Leiden) won the championship. My daughter was born there the next year, so it is really cool that she has that connection," Jackson detailed. "On the floor, we made the finals two years in a row and advanced to the Round of 16 in the EuroChallenge, so there are some great memories."
As his professional career was coming to a close, Jackson knew that he wanted to continue to work in the sport. He accomplished so much as a player. A member of the Butler Hall of Fame, Jackson continues to hold the school record with 540 assists and is tied for the career mark with 207 steals. He was part of a group that set the stage for Butler to rise to the top of the NCAA ranks with two NCAA championship game appearances in the decade after his playing days. Following the banner 2001-02 season, he enjoyed a 12-year professional career. For Jackson – his playing career was just the beginning.
"I knew after I was done playing that I wanted to stay involved with the game. They always say that coaching is the next best thing to playing," Jackson recalled. "What I have learned is that I have love teaching – helping guys develop – and learning under Coach Lickliter will be great because he is such a good teacher. That is the most exciting part – seeing players develop on and off the court."
It is not hard to see why Jackson fits right in with the Evansville staff. The love for teaching and developing is at the top of his list of priorities. Without that part of the process – the larger goals cannot happen.
