Noah Jackson

A proven leader and recruiter, Noah Jackson is in his sixth overall season on Mike Neu's baseball staff at California and his first as the program's associate head coach in 2023. Jackson, a 2003 graduate of Cal, was promoted to associate head coach on Aug. 8, 2022, and serves as the Golden Bears' recruiting coordinator while overseeing the team's hitters and outfielders.

Over the past five seasons, Jackson has been instrumental in establishing Cal's culture of player development while helping Neu guide the Golden Bears to an NCAA Regional appearance in 2019 and 127 total wins. With Jackson on the bench, the Bears have totaled no less than 29 wins in all four full seasons (2020 season canceled after 16 games due to COVID-19).

Cal has seen 22 players taken in the Major League Baseball Draft during Jackson's tenure since 2018, including six this July. The Bears set a program record last month for the most players selected in the first five rounds of a single MLB Draft (4). Cal has also had three first-round picks – Andrew Vaughn (No. 3 overall, 2019), Korey Lee (No. 32 overall, 2019) and Dylan Beavers (No. 33 overall, 2022) – with Jackson on staff, all of which were undrafted out of high school. Jackson mentored Vaughn, the 2018 Golden Spikes Award winner, and helped Beavers emerge as one of the top power-hitting players on the west coast with 36 career long balls, the seventh most in program history. Vaughn and Lee became the first duo in school history to be taken in the first round of the same draft, and Vaughn additionally became the program's highest-drafted player ever.

Cal posted consecutive 32-win seasons in Jackson’s two seasons as a full-time assistant coach (2018-19). The 2019 campaign was capped by Cal’s first trip to an NCAA Regional since 2015 as the Bears punched their ticket as an at-large bid and the No. 2 seed in the Fayetteville (Ark.) Regional. After the Bears played just 16 games in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Jackson helped over see a pair of 29-win seasons in 2021 and 2022. Four Bears – Dylan Beavers, Caleb Lomavita, Nathan Martorella and Keshawn Ogans – picked up All-Pac-12 Team honors in 2022 while Lomavita earned Freshman All-America accolades from Collegiate Baseball following a standout rookie campaign.

It is Jackson’s second stint on staff for his alma mater, having spent the 2015 season as a volunteer assistant coach for the Golden Bears. In 2015, Jackson helped the Bears go 36-21, finish third in the Pac-12 standings, and reach an NCAA Regional (College Station, Texas). Prior to joining the Cal staff in 2015, Jackson was a professional scout for the San Diego Padres.

Between his two stints at Cal, Jackson spent two seasons (2016, 2017) in Stockton as an assistant coach for Neu at the University of the Pacific.

Jackson played in 48 career games for the Bears, primarily as a first baseman and outfielder, from 2001-03 after transferring from Arkansas. He was a member of the 2001 Cal team that went 34-25 overall and reached the NCAA Baton Rouge (La.) Regional. He went on to play two years of minor league baseball for the Chicago Cubs organization.

Off the field, Jackson turned his love of baseball into a force for positive change. In 2003, he co-founded the First Base Foundation, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to making travel baseball more affordable and transforming lives through mentorship, development of leadership skills and building self-esteem.

Jackson earned his undergraduate degree in American Studies from Cal in 2003. A native of Mill Valley, Calif., Jackson attended Marin Catholic High School (Kentfield, Calif.) and is the godson of Dusty Baker, who spent a decorated 41 years in Major League Baseball as a player and manager. Jackson’s father, Sylvester, served as a radio broadcaster for the Oakland Athletics from 1987-92.