Better Know a Boston College Athletic Director Candidate: Mark Jackson

Who is he?

No, not that Mark Jackson. This Mark Jackson is entering his fifth year as the Athletic Director at Villanova University. A Boston native and graduate of Xaverian Brothers High School along with Colby and Trinity Colleges, Jackson looks like a great fit for Boston College on paper.

Career

At only 47, Jackson has years of high level experience and is equipped to lead BC. Jackson has a football background, playing defensive back at Colby. He later joined the New England Patriots as a special teams coaching assistant under Pete Carroll. He stayed on when Bill Belichik took the reigns, adding on running backs assistant. He soon reunited with Carroll at USC, and through 2005, he worked as the school’s Director of Football Operations and Assistant Athleitc Director. He later moved on to Syracuse as Executive Senior Associate Director of Athletics before working at a boxing development firm. He became the Director of Football Development for the Oakland Raiders in 2007. Eventually, he returned to USC as the Senior Associate Director of Athletics and Chief Innovation Officer. In 2015, He was appointed the Director of Athletics at Villanova and has been there ever since, adding Vice President to his title in January.

What he brings to the table

Jackson’s football background should not bring pause, We’ve all seen the success Villanova has experienced these past few years. Two national championships in basketball (a program at BC whose current state I don’t need to remind you of) were won under his watch. The Wildcats also brought home a championship in cross country, as well as 20 conference championships and 10 programs reaching national postseason berths. Jackson helped Villanova reach three-straight years record levels of fundraising, keeping BC on course with Martin Jarmond’s strides in the area. He’s paved the way for numerous key facility developments at both of his main stops, and has emphasized academic achievement and community service at Nova, again leaning into areas BC prides itself on. Jackson also has experience working with NCAA, selected to councils and committees that give him an even greater stature.

Unless he has some major vendetta against BC, I can’t see why Jackson wouldn’t be a prime candidate, and he seems like he should be getting a lot more buzz if BC considered targeting him. The combination of success at Villanova, a school with plenty of similarities to BC, and high-level experience at USC and elsewhere for over 20 years make him well qualified for the job. His Boston roots top off an already impressive resume. Martin Jarmond made great inroads here at BC, and Mark Jackson might just be the one to keep up this momentum.