Basketball Men's Staff
Men's Basketball - Staff
Jerre Cole
Title: Men's Head Basketball Coach
Phone: 785.442.6041
Email: jcole@highlandcc.edu
Jerre Cole enters his third year at the head men's basketball coach at Highland Community College. Cole is no stranger to the HCC after playing for the Scottie basketball team for two years (1989-91).
Prior to his return to Highland, Cole was the head coach at Lamar State College-Port Arthur in Port Arthur, Tex. He oversaw the program's move into NJCAA Division I from Division III in his one season as head coach.
From 2006-08, he served as an assistant coach at Garden City Community College under current head coach Kris Baumann. During his time at GCCC, the Broncbusters won 39 games and advanced each year to the Region VI Final Eight Tournament in Wichita.
Prior to Garden City, Cole was an assistant at Arizona Western College for the 2005-06 season. The Matadors finished the year with a 28-7 overall record, won the Region I championship, and advanced to the Elite Eight at the NJCAA D-I National Tournament in Hutchinson.
Cole spent four years, 2001-05, as the head coach at Peru State College in Peru, Neb. During his time at PSC, he recruited and coached four straight NAIA All-Americans and led the Bobcats to their first-ever MCAC post-season tournament. Their 21-11 mark in 2002-03 was the eleventh 20+ win season in school history.
From 1996-2001, Cole served as an assistant at Porterville College in Porterville, Calif. Over that five year stretch, the Pirates were California's winningest community college program with a 147-22 overall record. Porterville won four straight Central Valley Conference titles and they won the California Community College State Championship in 2001.
A native of Washington, Kan., Cole led the Tigers to a third place finish in the 1988 Class 2A State Championships. He was twice named a First Team All-State selection and was named to the 2A All-KBCA First Team following his senior season. At Highland, Cole helped the Scotties to the Region VI Final Eight Tournament in Salina as a freshman and led the Scotties in scoring as a sophomore. Cole took his game to Missouri Valley College following graduation from HCC, helping the Vikings to a NAIA Top 10 Ranking and an at-large bid to the NAIA National Championship Tournament in 1992. As a senior, he led the Vikings in scoring and was named an All-Heart of America Conference selection as well as to the All-District team.
Cole earned an Associate in Arts degree from Highland Community College in 1991, a Bachelor of Science degree in Secondary Education from Missouri Valley College, and a Master of Science degree in Physical Education from Emporia State University.
Ben Jacobson
Title: Assistant Men's Basketball Coach
Phone: 785.442.6042
Email: bjacobson@highlandcc.edu
Coach Jacobson came to Highland CC from San Jose CA, where he coached at West Valley College the 2007-08 seasons. Some of his responsibilities were on-the floor coaching, recruiting, scouting, and academic advisement.
Prior to coming to the College, Ben worked as an account executive in sales for a company out of Oakland, CA. The past two summers, Ben has worked closely with Bay area Division I programs-- San Jose State and Saint Mary's University -- working with player development at Saint Mary's and working basketball camps with both programs.
Coach Jacobson has an extensive playing background starting at Omaha Central High School where he graduated in 2000. He was an All-State and 1st Team All Metro player his senior year, recording over 1000 points and 500 rebounds for his career. He was also a McDonald's and USA Today All-American honorable mention nominee. Ben played his freshman year at Lamar University in Beaumont, TX for legendary coach Mike Deane. His sophomore year, he transferred to Iowa Western where he played for Jim Morris, and finished the season as the 18th ranked team in the country. He averaged 13 pts and 7 rebounds a game for a team that finished 25-6. From there, Ben transferred to Tennessee Tech University and played for Mike Sutton, where he played a pivotal role as captain of his team his senior year when Tech won the 2005 Ohio Valley Conference Championship and went 13-0 at home.
Ben also has experience playing ball internationally, representing the United States playing in the Maccabi Games for legendary coach and current Charlotte Bobcats assistant Herb Brown in Tel Aviv, Israel and Sydney, Australia. Ben was the captain of the team in 2005 that won a bronze medal, and won a gold medal in the Games in 2001. Ben attained his bachelor's degree in multi-disciplinary studies from Tech in 2005 and his masters degree in Instructional Leadership in 2007.
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