Carmen Jackson has been a staple in the South Florida track scene ever since her days as a standout at Miami Jackson Senior High School.  Jackson was a stellar athlete at Miami Jackson, becoming part of history where Miami Jackson Senior High School won the first girls varsity state track and field championship in the state of Florida in 1975. On that 1975 state championship team under the direction of Coach Lula Bell Smith, Jackson was the runner-up in the 100-meter dash, and she was the anchor on the winning 4x100 meter relay and sprint medley relays. Jackson would then be named All-City (known today as All-Dade) in all those events and was named Florida Athlete of the Year. Jackson was also named All-County in 1973, 1974, and 1975 in track and field in her high school career.  Jackson graduated from Miami Jackson Senior High in 1975, earned a Bachelor of Science in Health Education from Jackson State University in 1979, and earned a Master of Science in Computer Technology from Nova University in 2002. While at Jackson State University, Jackson won numerous titles in the 60-meter dash, 100-meter dash, and she was a member of a sprint medley relay team that broke an indoor world record.

Jackson was blessed with great coaching mentors and role models in high school and college, which were a boon for her future coaching career. Jackson’s coaching career began in 1980 when she became an assistant coach under her high school coach at Miami Northwestern. Two years later, she was hired as a full-time physical education teacher. In 1991, Jackson took over the reins from Lula Smith as the Miami Northwestern girls track and field head coach. Her legendary improbable championship run began when her team won the state title in 1999. Jackson has won 18 state championships at Miami Northwestern High School (1999, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, and 2023).  Coach Jackson extended the school’s state record by winning 14 consecutive state championships between 2009-2023. She has won 18 Regional titles, 29 District titles, and 17 GMAC Conference titles.

In her more than 30 years of coaching, Coach Jackson continues to prove that it’s possible to excel at the highest level within the structure of a high school track and field program by producing individual state champions, national championship contenders and winning team titles with large groups of student athletes. She was named Florida Interscholastic Athletic Association Coach of the Year in 1999, 2001, 2010 and 2013.  Jackson received the 2015 Mike Byrnes Outdoor Coach of the Year award and the 2015 U.S. Track & Field and Cross-Country Coaches Association Coach of the Year award.  She was also named Florida Dairy Farmers Coach of the Year (1999, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2021), Florida Athletic Coaches Association Coach of the Year (2001-2005), Miami Herald Coach of the Year (2001), Miami Herald Track Coach of the Year (1999, 2001, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022),  and the National High School Athletic Association Coach of the Year Regional winner (2001, 2010).  She was inducted into the National High School Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2022.