LA PLATA, Md. – The College of Southern Maryland (CSM) announces that Anthony Mason has joined CSM to serve as the interim head coach for the Hawks softball team this spring and Ardell Jackson has signed on to return in his position as CSM women’s basketball head coach.
Mason took the lead this 2023 season as interim head coach after serving in fall 2022 as an assistant coach and has so far led the team through an even season.
Mason, pictured above, has 10 years of experience coaching softball and baseball. He is a nationally certified hitting instructor by Driveline Baseball, and is a nationally licensed certified C.U.D.I.T. (Challenge U. Drill Interval Training) softball hitting instructor. Mason operates a hitting training facility “No Ground Balls Hitting Academy” in Waldorf, Maryland. He is also a regional scout for USA Baseball.
Mason was varsity softball head coach at Lackey High School from 2019-2022.
“I decided to coach at CSM because it’s a lifelong dream of mine to become a head coach at the collegiate level and this is the beginning of the journey,” Mason said. “My entire life is centered around softball and I’m extremely grateful to be able to live out my passion every day!”
Mason also works for Charles County Public Schools as a special education teacher at Lackey High School. He graduated from La Plata High School in 1988. He received both his bachelor’s degree in organizational psychology and his master’s degree in education from American InterContinental University. Mason has lived in Charles County since 1974 and has five children and five grandchildren.
This is Jackson’s second time as head coach of the Hawks women’s basketball program. He previously served at the helm for five and a half seasons from the 2015-16 season up until halfway through the 2021-22 season. The Hawks did not compete during the 2020-21 year due to the pandemic.
During Jackson’s first season at CSM in 2015-2016, he guided the Hawks to a 14-13 overall record while earning a No. 3 seed in the Region XX tournament where they advanced to the semifinals.
In 2018-19, the Hawks went 13-11 in the regular season, then made it to the Region XX Tournament championship game, finishing the year with a 15-12 overall record. As a No. 7 seed in the Region XX Tournament, CSM used impressive wins against the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds – both being double-digit victories – to reach the championship game.
Jackson also guided CSM to a Region XX Tournament appearance in the 2019-20 season. The Hawks finished the regular season with an 11-13 record before bowing out in the quarterfinal round of the Region XX Tournament.
Jackson has accrued over 50 wins during his time as head coach at CSM.
Jackson has coached multiple All-Maryland JUCO and All-Region 20 award-winning student-athletes throughout the years at CSM. That list includes Amaya Yancey, who was also named an NJCAA Division II Women’s Basketball Player of the Week and All-America Third Team honoree for the 2018-19 season.
Jackson said he is glad to be back at the wheel as the head coach and finish what he started eight years ago at the College Southern of Maryland.
“I am very excited to get back to working with a great athletic department and staff,” he said. “The CSM women’s basketball program has my heart, and I believe in the program and everything that the College of Southern Maryland has to offer to student-athletes and the community. We have so much work to do, but will look to build off the success of this year’s team. We have some very talented young players on the roster that I really can’t wait to start working with to develop their skills and get them ready for the 2023-2024 season.”
Jackson served as the girls’ basketball head coach at Westlake High School from 2011 to 2014 and during the 2022-23 season. While there, he guided Westlake to two Maryland 3A Girls South Regional Championships and two Maryland state semifinals appearances in the 2011-2012 & 2013-2014 seasons. Jackson was named the Charles County Coach of the Year during the 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 seasons. He was also named the Southern Maryland Athletic Conference Coach of the Year during the 2013-2014 season.
In addition, Jackson founded and coached the Jackson Premiere Hoops program (formerly the Lady Pearls Basketball) which has aided and assisted players in the Southern Maryland Athletic Conference to receive athletic scholarships from various colleges and universities.
Jackson played high school basketball at John F. Kennedy High School in 1995 and then attended Thornton Friends Upper School in Silver Spring, Maryland, as a prep student-athlete in 1996. Jackson was named to the All-Independent Schools First Team and also led the D.C. Metro Area in scoring, averaging 35.4 points per game that season.
Jackson played at Montgomery College-Rockville from 1996 to 1998. During the 1998 season, he led MC-Rockville to win the NJCAA Region XX Championship and earn a berth in the National Tournament at SUNY Delhi in New York. While at MC-Rockville, he was named All-Region XX First Team and All-Maryland JUCO Second Team.
For more information about CSM’s athletic programs and athletes, visit Inside Athletics.