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Washington adds former Western Washington head coach Brad Jackson to staff

Brad Jackson

Western Washington head coach Brad Jackson, center, accepts the NCAA Division II championship college basketball trophy after defeating Montevallo 72-65 at the Bank Of Kentucky Center on the campus of Northern Kentucky University, Saturday, March 24, 2012, in Highland Heights, Ky. (AP Photo/David Kohl)

AP

With an eye toward the future Washington announced an addition to Lorenzo Romar’s coaching staff, as Brad Jackson has been hired as an assistant coach.

In Jackson the Huskies get an experienced coach who arrived by way of Western Washington, which he led to the Division II national title last season as head coach.

Jackson, 60, won 518 games in 27 years as head coach at Western Washington and leaves the school with a .650 winning percentage.

“I think we got an absolute steal,” said Romar in the release. “You hire a basketball coach off of winning a national championship ... it doesn’t happen very often. I’m just ecstatic that he has decided to do this.

“I have tried to hire him before and it just didn’t work out. He is successful, very accomplished and knows the Northwest. He has been here forever. He is definitely going to help our program.”

While Jackson could have remained in familiar surroundings the time seemed right for him to join his long-time friend’s staff.

“It was very, very hard,” Jackson said in the release about the decision to leave Western Washington. “Our roots are in Bellingham. The other side of that is that my wife grew up in Seattle, I started my coaching career here at [Seattle Pacific] and we have a lot of friends here. It is only an hour drive away. The logistics are very easy.”

“But, the fact that I’ve headed a program for 27 years and sort of built it from scratch, leaving that is difficult. The other part is the current players. Some of the relationships I have with them have gone on for quite a few years. Those are going to be the toughest parts about leaving.”

Jackson’s hiring means that for the time being the Huskies have four assistants listed on their roster, but you’re only allowed three.

That’s where the “eye toward the future” comes into play.

The expectation is that Raphael Chillious, who has been on Romar’s staff since 2009, will join Jay Wright’s staff at Villanova with that becoming official early next week.

This is good timing for Washington to go through making a change to the staff, with the team leaving the country for Europe and Senegal on August 25.

Raphielle is also the assistant editor at CollegeHoops.net and can be followed on Twitter at @raphiellej.