Jacobs will make the step up from his position as Head of Academy Coaching, where he has spent the last 18 months after joining the club from Royal Antwerp.
Speaking exclusively to RangersTV following his appointment, he said: “I’m really excited to take on this challenge. The opportunity to become Academy Director at this football club is a unique one. It’s a privilege to be the head of an Academy with so many exciting talents and good people.
“The vision is crystal clear. We want to build the most exciting learning environment in sport. I’m consciously saying in ‘sport’ because we need to be aspirational. We need to look out of the window at what other sports are doing and take that into our Academy.
"We look in the mirror a lot, and we know exactly where we need to grow and where we have already reached a good level of excellence. I want to connect more with best practices in football around Europe and other sports in high performance environments to bring us to the next level.
“I like the word ‘exciting’ when I speak about learning and development because it captures so many other words: creative, innovative and different. That vision of creating the most exciting learning environment in sport is something that we really want to push forward.
First-team Manager Michael Beale was a driving force behind Jacobs’ appointment as Head of Coaching in the Academy back in 2021.
The Belgian believes his alignment with Beale’s coaching vision can help streamline the pathway between Academy and first-team for the stars of tomorrow.
He continued: “The first call that I had with Michael Beale was 20 months ago where we connected and started speaking about player development in general. Sometimes in life you can feel a certain connection; you have the same lens on football, life and player development. The manager and I grew closer until he brought me over to align his vision with the Academy.
“One of the strengths that we have had over the last 18 months is that we have kept in contact, even when he had his experiences at Aston Villa and Queens Park Rangers. We have stayed really close to each other, and with him coming back as a manager, it’s a huge strength. It was one of the reasons I was excited when this opportunity came up.
"Michael says the door is open, and it’s on us to make players who are good enough and ready, while it’s on him to take them on board and within the first-team environment. Those conversations, formal and informal, and having the same lens on both football and player development, is a huge benefit for the club and something that we want to continue strengthening.”