Correspondent photo / Robert Hayes. New YSU women's basketball coach Melissa Jackson speaks during her introductory press conference Monday afternoon at the Beeghly Center.

YOUNGSTOWN — It’s a new era, as Youngstown State introduced new women’s basketball coach Melissa Jackson during a press conference Monday afternoon.

After spending this season as an assistant coach at Cleveland State and before that, 15 years at Akron, which included serving as head coach her final five years with the Zips, Jackson’s hire as the ninth head coach in program history was announced by the university last Thursday.

“YSU is amazing — this administration, (athletic director) Ron (Strollo) really laid out a vision for me that I could not pass up,” Jackson said Monday. “YSU is a sleeping giant — the facilities here, the support, I am so excited to get people to campus, and I can’t wait to show this place off.

“Every day I will look at these banners that (former coach Ed DeGregorio) brought to YSU as motivation to get back to the Big Dance. To the YSU community and loyal supporters, I absolutely can’t wait to engage this community. Every time I have visited Beeghly, I have been blown away by the atmosphere and support for women’s basketball. When (CSU) played here a few weeks ago, there were 2,000 people in the stands. It was amazing. The atmosphere was incredible. … I can’t wait to engage this community and pack Beeghly every single night and continue to make it one of the toughest places to play in all of college basketball”

Jackson replaces former coach John Barnes, who tendered his resignation on Jan. 19. Barnes had coached the Penguins for 10 seasons before he took a leave of absence prior to the start of the 2023-2024 season.

John Nicolais served as acting coach and interim coach for the Penguins during the 2023-2024 season and led YSU to a 14-18 overall record, which included finishing tied for sixth (9-11) in the regular season conference standings. After a tough start, the Penguins rallied over the final month of the year before ending the season in the quarterfinals of the Horizon League tournament.

In the end, Strollo said that the decision ultimately came down to Jackson and Nicolais for the permanent coaching job.

“Coach Nicolais did an amazing job with his staff. He really handled a challenging (situation),” Strollo said. “I don’t know if anyone could have done a better job, and he made this decision really hard. I’m anxious to watch the rest of his career and I wouldn’t be surprised if at some point someday, I regret not keeping him here. I think he’s got that kind of future, and we owe him a debt of gratitude for what he was able to do with our student-athletes in keeping this thing going (this season), given what was a very difficult situation that he was given.”

Jackson’s prior head coaching experience at a Group of Five program, her long-time recruiting ties to Northeast Ohio and a first-hand knowledge of the Horizon League were all aspects that made her seem like the ideal fit for YSU, according to Strollo.

“I would say the first box was, as we talked to people, what they said about her,” Strollo said. “The fact that after being (at Akron) for 10 years, they gave her the (head coaching) job, I think that says a lot about what they thought of her 10 years there. When we hired Coach Barnes, he was the top assistant of a team that won the championship. Now we (again) have the top assistant of the team that won the championship. So, just super excited to have her here.”

Cleveland State put out a press release a couple days ago indicating that Jackson would remain with the team during the duration of their postseason run through the WBIT.

But Jackson said Monday that while that may have been the plan at first, over the past couple of days, she decided that she needed to get things started right away at YSU.

“I wish them all the best, but as the last few days have come about, I need to solely be here at YSU and be 100% committed to this program,” Jackson said. “The last eight months have been unbelievable for me and my family. Those relationships are strong, but I really need to focus on the Penguins right now.

“I loved my time at Cleveland State. I think it was a great transition for me during that time to learn about the Horizon League and to learn about what it takes to build a championship program. Coach (Chris) Kielsmeier has done a great job of that, so I’m excited to bring some of that to YSU.”

In five years as head coach at Akron, Jackson led the Zips to two postseason appearances and maintained the best winning percentage in program history (.511) with a record of 72-69.

At the end of Jackson’s fifth and final season at Akron, she was informed by the university that it would not be extending her contract.

“I have a lot of love for Akron, I was there for 15 years,” Jackson said. “Would I have loved to stay there forever? Absolutely. But I understand the business. I will say, I didn’t understand why they did not renew me. To this day, I still don’t know why. But all I know is everything happens for a reason, and I’m so happy to be here at YSU and to be a Penguin.”

Jackson added that she hasn’t made any definitive decisions or moves regarding assistants or coaching staff yet.

“I met with the current staff last week and had some great conversations with them. Things are very much in flux right now,” Jackson said. “Obviously, being a head coach, there’s a lot of people that I want to talk to. I really want to get the right staff for this program at the right time.”

Jackson had a chance to meet with the current group of returning players shortly after the official announcement last week.

The Penguins have eight players that are eligible to return for next season. However, the transfer portal opened Monday, so things could change with the current roster moving forward.

“I think they were excited. Obviously we talked a lot about just the initial steps to our program, and I laid out the core values for them,” Jackson said of the meeting. “I really just wanted to hit home those core values. We’ll talk much more in detail with them as we go, but it was also for them to get to know me as a person. Obviously they know me as a coach from playing against me, but I wanted them to know about my family and some of my values and what I stand for. So I think it was a really good initial first meeting.”

YSU also has an incoming freshmen recruiting class of seven players that are signed for the fall. Jackson said she’s been in touch with each of them since the announcement of her hiring.

“I knew pretty much all of them,” Jackson said. “Some of them I recruited really hard at Akron. Some of them I had offered and have had previous relationships with the majority of them. The ones that I maybe didn’t have a strong (relationship) with, we got on the phone very quickly with them and their families and really laid out the vision and those core values. All the feedback has been super positive. A couple of them are going to come up to campus, and we’re going to have one-on-one meetings, but as of right now, everyone is all in.”

As for basketball, Jackson said she plans to bring a “versatile” style of play to YSU on both ends of the floor.

She indicated that one of her “biggest strengths” is her ability to adjust what her teams do to accommodate the different rosters and different kinds of players she has at any given time.

“I love the Princeton offense. I love offensive flow. I’m very much an offensive-minded coach,” Jackson said. “So hopefully we will continue to recruit to that. Then defensively, I will mix it up. We will play man, we will play some zone — obviously played zone for 40 minutes at Cleveland State — so I learned a lot about the 2-3 zone, but just a lot of versatility on both sides of the ball.”

JACKSON SIGNS 5-YEAR DEAL

According to documents obtained by the Tribune Chronicle and Vindicator in a public records request, Jackson signed a five-year contract with the university that will run through the end of the 2028-2029 season. YSU is set to pay Jackson a base salary of $183,000 per year.

“It’s standard practice. That’s pretty typical,” Strollo said of the five-year deal. “It probably takes sometimes 2-3 years and we hope that we can fix everything in the portal really quickly. But realistically, it takes a little while to build a culture, recruit and get to know the challenges or advantages of working here.”

In comparison, former coach John Barnes made about $170,000 in his final season with the Penguins.

In terms of performance incentives, Jackson would receive $20,000 for leading YSU to a regular season first-place finish in the Horizon League, $15,000 for a second-place finish, $10,000 for a third-place finish, $5,000 for a fourth-place finish, and $2,500 for a fifth-place finish.

Assistant coaches would receive a bonus of $6,000 for first place, $4,500 for second place, $3,000 for third place and $1,500 for fourth place.

If the Penguins win the Horizon League tournament under Jackson, she would receive $10,000, while her assistants would each receive $3,000. For each game YSU plays in the NCAA tournament, Jackson would receive $5,000, while each assistant would receive $1,500. Jackson would also receive $2,500 for each game YSU plays in the WBIT.

If YSU finishes in the top 50 of the NET, Jackson would receive $10,000. For finishing between 51-100, she would receive $5,000, 101-150 would be $2,500 and 151-200 would be $1,000.

In terms of academics, Jackson would receive $25,000 if the Penguins earn an APR score between 930-950, $30,000 for an APR score between 951-970, $35,000 for an APR score between 971-990 and $40,000 for an APR score above 990. In addition, she would receive $2,500 if the team has an overall cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher based on semester academic results of the active team roster.

If Jackson is ever named Horizon League Coach of the Year, she would earn a bonus of $10,000. She will also receive a $10,000 bonus for “marketing efforts.”

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