Stu Jackson, '78 Management

Seattle University played a major role in the future West Coast Conference Commissioner's path from the court to the conference. Andrew Binion caught up with Jackson when he visited SU in July 2024 to ask him about his experience.

How did your education at Albers assist you in your professional pursuits?

I was transferred to Seattle U from the University of Oregon after suffering what I thought was a career ending injury at the University of Oregon. I wanted to academically focus on business school and graduating.

There was [also] an opportunity here that Coach O'Connor, who was the head basketball coach at the time, offered me: a chance to come and function almost as a graduate assistant for the basketball team.

It just so happened that throughout that process, I had rehabilitated my knee enough that I actually got to play a little over half of the season to kind of finish out my basketball playing career. It's something that I will always forever be grateful to him for allowing me that opportunity and to sort of learn and dip my toe into coaching.

What was the experience at Albers?

That is something that's deeply personal to me because coming from University of Oregon to Seattle U, which at that time was a smaller school than it is now, I got a level of individual academic attention and focus that I hadn't experienced at a larger university, even though it had greater resources, bigger study halls, and many more athletes here.

I felt like academically I was encouraged, nurtured, seen, and dare I say, held more accountable. That's what my experience was like, and it allowed me to flourish more academically and get back to who I wanted to be from an education standpoint. It was a very valuable experience.