Episode 318: Coach Taylor Jackson (Head Boy's Basketball Coach Social Circle High School) Social Circle, GA "How to Build a Champion in a Small School Setting"

-Piedmont Academy (2008)

-Covenant College, BA Mathematics (2012)

-Covenant College, MAT (2013)

Experience

-Soddy-Daisy Middle School | 7th Grade Math (2013-2014)

-Newton High School | Algebra 2 & Geometry, Asst Boys Basketball Coach (2014-2017)

-Social Circle High School | Algebra 2, AMDM, Algebra 1, Geometry, Head Boys Basketball Coach (2017-Current)

Taylor Jackson has always loved basketball and been passionate about the game. He was a gym rat who grew up playing in recreation leagues and on both the high school and college levels.

But even he was shocked at the basketball-centric world he found himself in when he landed his first job as a coach as an assistant under Rick Rasmussen at Newton County in 2014.

It was that mindset Jackson brought with him when he arrived at Social Circle as an assistant under Brian Anderson in 2017 to help turn around a program that had hit rock bottom. Social Circle hadn’t advanced to state in five years, not even been close. During that stretch, they had a combined record of 23-99.

Five years later, the Redskins find themselves 23-0 heading into the final week of the regular season and ranked No. 1 in the state in one prep poll. With a win over Washington-Wilkes last week, they secured the top seed in the Region 8-A Public tournament and a third consecutive berth in the state tournament.

When Jackson took over in the next year, he inherited an uber-talented group of youngsters who not only had varsity experience but who understood and accepted the high expectations.

Led by Branch and Reid, who averaged 20 and 15 points, respectively, the Redskins won 20 games. More importantly, they snapped a nine-year state tournament drought.

Jackson doubled down last year, pushing his squad even harder and harping on every detail. That led to another key point in the Redskins rebuild.

The Redskins went on to win 12 of their next 15 , including their first victory in the state tournament in over a decade. The momentum has carried over into this season in a big way. Social Circle has dominated its region, winning by an average of 34 points. In non-league action, the Redskins have 11 wins over teams in higher classifications.

For the Social Circle boys basketball team, the heartbreak of losing to Drew Charter in overtime of the of the Class A public state semifinals Saturday night in Valdosta was compounded by the fact that they might actually have won. Ultimately, the game ended tied at 56 after regulation and the Redskins lost 70-66 after the first overtime period.