Longtime High School Coach & Administrator to Lead Bulls off the field development
TAMPA, JAN. 13, 2023 – University of South Florida Head Coach Alex Golesh has named Jeff Jones as the Bulls’ director of player development, a role in which he will oversee the Bulls development and growth in community and campus engagement, leadership development and off the field skill sets necessary for success in life after their time at USF.
A longtime high school administrator, teacher and football coach, Jones was named the 2006 Ohio Division I State Coach of the Year and most recently served as principal for grades 5-6 campus and 750 students at Park Street Intermediate School (2020-22) in Grove City, Ohio.
“I am honored and excited that Coach Jones is joining us at USF and employing his tremendous experience in education and coaching to the overall development of our Bulls players,” Golesh said. “I played for him and experienced first-hand his outstanding ability as a mentor and teacher of student-athletes, and I am so excited our players will also have the opportunity to benefit from his leadership and wisdom.”
Jones brings a lengthy resume of experience in education to USF, having served as principal at four high schools in Ohio, associate principal at one and taught science and biology at seven schools over the course of a 29-year career, including 15 as a teacher and 14 as an administrator.
Among his many accomplishments as an administrator, Jones built a unique care/regulation processes and network for students that was implemented across the district, served as instructional leader for large numbers of teachers and educational aides at each stop, built communication networks to address a variety of stakeholders, conducted teacher evaluations and hiring, coordinated building operations, and oversaw course schedules, discipline and attendance for as many as 2,500 students. Jones also served on numerous curriculum, planning, standards, grants and negotiating committees during his tenure.
Jones has 15 seasons of experience coaching football at the high school level, including as head coach at Westland High School (2005-07) and Mount Gilead (2002). He was also offensive coordinator at Dublin Scioto High School (2000-02) and Hilliard Davidson High School (1999). As the head football coach at Westland, he led the program to its first playoff berth in program history in 2006 after taking over a program that went 1-9 the year before his arrival. As offensive coordinator at Dublin he coached USF head coach Alex Golesh. During his coaching career he was privileged to work under the guidance of great Ohio high school coaches such as hall of famers Johns Sines and Bryan Deal as well as Brian White, Karl Johnson and Mark Crabtree.
Born in Columbus, Ohio, Jones attended high school at Naperville Central in the Chicago area and earned his bachelor’s degree in life sciences at Otterbein (OH) University in 1991. He went on to earn a master’s degree in teaching from Otterbein in 1994 and completed continuing educations course work at Ohio State. He earned an administrative licensure from Ashland University in 2006 and complete superintendent licensure work at Ashland from 2012-13.
Jones and his wife, Christy, have a son, Jordan (21), and a daughter, Alyssa (18).
ABOUT USF FOOTBALL
The USF football program first took the field in 1997 and completed its 26th season in 2022 while completing construction on a $22 million Indoor Performance Facility. The Bulls have posted 15 winning seasons and earned 16 All-America selections, including 2021 consensus All-American Brian Battie, while seeing 32 first-team all-conference selections. USF has had 30 players selected in the NFL Draft and has made 10 bowl game appearances (going 6-4 in those games), posting a program-record six straight appearances from 2005-2010 and most recently making four straight bowl appearances from 2015-18. The Bulls posted back-to-back 10-win seasons in 2016 and 2017, logging a program-record 11-2 mark in 2016 while finishing both seasons ranked in the Top 25. USF spent a program-record 20 straight weeks ranked in the Top 25 during the 2016 and 2017 seasons and reached as high as No. 2 in the national rankings during the 2007 season.
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