Fort Mill basketball coach Bailey Jackson was named Coach of the Year by the South Carolina Athletic Coaches Association.
He will receive his award July 22 during the association's banquet at the Charleston Area Convention Center.
Jackson led the Yellow Jackets to the Class AAAA state championship this season, beating Summerville 53-41 in the finals.
Four years ago, Jackson's first team went 2-22 and finished last in Region 3-AAAA. The Jackets went 11-13 and 18-10 the next two years before posting a 25-4 mark this season while winning the region championship. He credited the ascent to the players buying into his deliberate, disciplined style -- work the ball around for a high-percentage shot and deny the ball inside the paint on defense.
When this year rolled around, the Yellow Jackets had the system perfected. They averaged 52.2 points in five playoff games while holding the opposition to 42.
Fort Mill put the clamps on three all-state players in its final three games. Irmo's Joe Ben Watson scored three points in the third round, as did Easley's Mike Jenkins, Class AAAA's Player of the Year, in the Upper State championship. The Jackets held Summerville's A.J. Green to 11 points, nine in the opening quarter, in the championship game.
Jackson played at Clover and had coaching stops at Buford and Chesnee. His Buford teams made the playoffs all four years he was there, had three winning seasons and the last set a school record for most victories (18). Before his arrival, Buford hadn't made the playoffs in 21 years.
He spent the 2003 season at Chesnee before coming to Fort Mill.
• NOTES: This year's SCACA Hall of Fame class will also be inducted at the banquet and includes Joy Couch (Dorman and Broome); Jim Few (Greer and Broome); John Jones (Spring Valley); Bill Porter (Irmo) and Bill Tate (Timmonsville), who grew up in Clover and attended Roosevelt High School.
Tommy Mitchell, who coached at Saluda and works with the association's all-star games, will receive the 2007 distinguished service award.
Tickets are $35 and available from the SCACA, PO Box 310, Cross Hill, S.C., 29332.
