Mike Young Finalizes His Assistant Coaching Positions

BLACKSBURG – Virginia Tech head men’s basketball coach Mike Young announced Wednesday the addition of Chester Frazier and Antwon Jackson to his coaching staff, while retaining Christian Webster, all as assistant coaches. Young was officially named Tech’s head coach on April 7, following a highly-successful 17-year stint as the head coach of Wofford. 

“We’re excited to add Chester, Antwon and Christian and their families to our staff at Virginia Tech,” Young said. “All three of these men will provide a number of key elements to our program as teachers, coaches and recruiters. They’re all bright and talented coaches who have earned the respect of their peers across our profession.
 
“Chester was raised in a basketball hotbed in Baltimore and was a team captain of his collegiate team at Illinois as a point guard,” Young continued. “Antwon owns a collegiate playing resume and formed valuable relationships during his tenures at Cincinnati and UMass, as well William and Mary. Christian was also an accomplished college player and possesses a wealth of knowledge about our current squad, as well as prospect and opposing personnel across our region. We’re fortunate to have all join our basketball program in Blacksburg.”

Frazier comes to Tech from Kansas State, where he was an assistant for seven seasons under head coach Bruce Weber. With the Wildcats he helped play a key role in arguably the most successful stretch for the program in school history, helping K-State to five NCAA Tournament appearances over that seven-year span. 

While in Manhattan, Frazier was instrumental in developing all-conference players, mentoring 13 players to All-Big 12 teams. Known for his prowess on the defensive end, Frazier developed four Big 12 All-Defensive Teams members and the 2019 Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year (Barry Brown Jr.). 
 
Before his time with the Wildcats, the Baltimore native served a graduate assistant at his alma mater of Illinois and also played professionally in Germany. A point guard at Illinois from 2005-09, Frazier served as a graduate assistant and video coordinator for Weber at Illinois from 2010-11. He helped the Fighting Illini to a 20-win season and an appearance in the NCAA Tournament in 2010-11.

Jackson will enter his first year in Blacksburg after spending the last seven seasons at Cincinnati. With the Bearcats, Jackson played a crucial part in UC’s back-to-back American Athletic Conference Tournament titles in 2018 and 2019. He also steered Gary Clark (2017-18) and Jarron Cumberland (2018-19) to being named AAC Player of the Year in consecutive seasons.
 
During the 2016 summer, Jackson was invited to the NCAA’s prestigious Achieving Coaching Excellence (ACE) program, going through an intensive development program for preparation of career advancement. Prior to his time in Cincy, Jackson built a reputation for finding under-the-radar prospects at UMass (2008-12) and Williams & Mary (2005-08). He also was an assistant high school coach at Paul VI in Fairfax, Virginia from 2004-05, and played collegiately at Pikeville (Ky.).

Webster, who joined the Hokies as an assistant in 2016, returns for his fourth year. During his previous three years with Tech, the Hokies went on arguably the greatest stretch in program history, making the NCAA Tournament three years in a row for the first time and recording a program-best 26 wins this past season.
 
During the summer of 2017, Webster was recognized by the National Association of Basketball Coaches as a “30-under-30” honoree. Before his time in Blacksburg, Webster was at UCF for one year after being an assistant at Harvard for two seasons. A four-year letter winner at Harvard, Webster holds the distinction as Harvard’s winningest player with 90 career victories.