He was a four-year letterman for the Sioux, a two-year starter, and he ended his career as the school's all-time assist leader.

Jacobson's biggest coaching accomplishment was in 2009–10, when the Panthers made a run into the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA tournament highlighted by an upset of top national seed Kansas.

Jacobson also coached UNI as it became the first college program ever to represent the United States of America at an international basketball competition.

Donning the Red, White and Blue, UNI went 5–1 in the tournament, losing only to eventual gold medalist Lithuania, while posting wins over Angola, Turkey, China, Finland and Israel.

In the 2014–15 season, Jacobson led the Panthers to their highest ranking in school history (#10) in the AP and (#9) in the Coaches Poll.

Nearly three weeks after achieving the 200th victory, UNI stunned #5 ranked Iowa State in the Big Four Classic in Des Moines, IA.

In the first round of the MVC tournament, Jacobson notched his 250th Northern Iowa career win against Evansville on March 1, 2018.

[4] On February 27, 2021, Jacobson earned his 300th career Northern Iowa victory with a double overtime win over Illinois State in the regular season finale.

Jacobson became the all-time wins leader (188) in conference history on January 20, 2024, with a victory over rival Southern Illinois.