Merideth Jacobs resigns as Bradford girls basketball coach

Bradford girls basketball coach Merideth Jacobs resigned as head coach on Feb. 14, 2023.

Following the Bradford girls basketball team’s elimination from the District 13-1A tournament on Monday, head coach Merideth Jacobs announced her resignation on Tuesday.

The resignation comes from a new position that Jacobs will be taking on within the Bradford Special School District and to spend more time with her family.

“My son Dean started middle school basketball this year, and I missed seven games and I didn’t like that,” Jacobs said. “The main priority was my own children and the time that I needed to spend with them as their mother. It all worked out, and I felt God just laid it in my lap.

“This is a time in my life where Shane and I both coach and have head coached programs for years now. We have four children, and I thought what a perfect opportunity to stay at Bradford and pursue another avenue in education.”

Jacobs will be starting something new at Bradford, and it is a job that will be time-consuming during the school day.

“There has been talk at Bradford in exploring work-based learning,” Jacobs said. “There is a 4.0 industry diploma. The administration took a plunge and decided we will tackle that this year. We were looking for someone to coordinate the work-based learning program, and they asked me if I would be interested. When talking to (Director of Schools) Mr. (Dan) Black, he was honest with me and told me that if I took on the responsibility of work-based learning coordinator, I would not have the time to coach because it was a new thing for us.”

Jacobs will be the softball coach this spring.

“Mr. Black felt that I would still be able to coach softball right now because it is not during the school day,” Jacobs said. “I will be more flexible to coach those two-and-a-half months.”

Jacobs has spent 10 seasons as head coach at her alma mater following a short stint at South Gibson. During her 10 seasons in charge, Bradford has gone to four region tournaments with two berths in the region semifinals. Jacobs has accrued 120 wins at Bradford.

But Tuesday morning, Jacobs sat her team down and told them that she was stepping down.

“After (Monday’s) loss, I wanted the kids to know how grateful I was for their effort, and there was no question we were lacking in experience this year, but I wanted Monday night to be about them. They weren’t ready to be finished. But Tuesday morning, we had a really good talk. They are a very mature group, and when I started talking of my own children, they nodded their heads and fully understood.”

Jacobs was a two-time Miss Basketball winner at Bradford for the 2003, ‘04 seasons. 

She went on to play at Union University and was a two-time NAIA All-American (2005, ‘09), a two-time NAIA National Tournament all-tournament member (2005, ‘06) and All-TranSouth selection (2005, ‘09). She is the all-time leader in 3-point attempts at Union with 987 and 3-pointers made with 383 and third in 3-pointers made in a season with 117. 

Jacobs is ninth all-time for 3-point percentage in a season when she shot .418 in 2007-08, second for 3-point percentage in a game when she hit 7-of-8 (.875) against Blue Mountain in 2009. Jacobs played in 148 games for the Lady Bulldogs, which is second all-time, one behind current Crockett County coach Kayla Irvin.