June 6, 2024
Former Villages Charter Graduate Isaiah Jackson Named Head Basketball Coach of Ridgeview High
By Kyle Coppola
Former Villages Charter Graduate Isaiah Jackson Named Head Basketball Coach of Ridgeview High
Former Villages basketball player Isaiah Jackson, who became The Villages’ first professional basketball player and NCAA Division 1 basketball star, recently retired from professional basketball. However, he put in the work off the court and has secured a head coaching position with the Ridgeview Panthers for 2024.
Jackson is remembered in the Lake & Sumter County community for his incredible athletic ability. He was one of the top stars to come out of Sumter County in the mid-2010s. Jackson started his collegiate journey with George Mason and then transferred to Providence in Rhode Island, where he would have a big impact during his time with the team.
(Jackson takes over a program that will benefit heavily from his leadership. This is a big opportunity for not only head coach Jackson but a high school that badly needed this.)
Coach Jackson then played professionally in France with La Charite Basket 58, who are part of the French National 2 League. Jackson took a layoff from basketball when the pandemic hit but ended up playing for the Albany Patroons of The Basketball League in the last few years before deciding to hang up his cleats and retire from basketball after 2022.
(Jackson played for the Albany Patroons in New York.)
Since then, Jackson has focused on his coaching career, including being an assistant coach for Tre Mann Elite and top AAU ranking teams across the country. Ridgeview is coming off a 2-24 season. They were among the bottom teams in the state of Florida.
Coach Jackson will look to build the Ridgeview program in the next few years. Having a name like Isaiah Jackson as the head coach will no doubt help the program in many ways as they look to bring the basketball program back to its former greatness. The last winning season for Ridgeview was during the 2012-2013 season when they went 21-8 and made the FHSAA Playoffs, reaching the Regional Finals.
(Jackson shoots a free-throw for The Villages back in 2014. Jackson is largely credited for putting The Villages basketball team on the map. Since then, The Villages has grown into one of the premier basketball powerhouse programs in the state.)
It’s been well over a decade since that dominance, and Coach Jackson will look to capture the magic of those early 2010s Ridgeview High School teams.
We are very excited for this former Villages graduate to earn an opportunity like this. We wish Coach Jackson the best of luck for the upcoming 2024/2025 season!
Kyle Coppola was born in Newton, Massachusetts and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Communications from Curry College in 2016. After traveling to Florida on a family vacation, he decided he could not get enough of the warm weather and made the move from snowy Massachusetts to central Florida 8 years ago.
For the last decade Kyle has gained valuable experience in social media content creation, marketing and sales, writing, video production, sports announcing and even broadcasting for local radio stations, such as FM 102.9 in The Villages and FM 91.5 in Massachusetts. Every year he volunteers at The Villages Charter High School as a play-by-play sports announcer for the football games as well as a public address announcer for the basketball games, including the annual Battle at The Villages Tournament.
Outside the office Kyle is a husband and father to two beautiful girls along with their cat. In his spare time he likes to spend time with his family, travel, play golf and swim. He is also a huge sports junkie and even bigger motorsports fan and loves to attend racing events when he can.
