Bio

John D. Jones was appointed Athletic Director at Trinity Baptist College in August of 2011.  He is no stranger to the world of intercollegiate athletics, having worked for 28 years as an assistant or head coach at every competitive level of men’s college basketball, including NCAA Division 1.  For the past decade he has also served as an athletics administrator and professor of counseling and sport management.

In his first year as the new Athletic Director at Trinity, Jones developed a strategic plan for TBC Athletics which focused on 10 areas of athletic department enhancement.  The plan was approved by the TBC Trustees in the Fall of 2011 and was immediately put into action.  Since then, Trinity Baptist joined the NCCAA, added programs to grow from one sport with 12 student-athletes to seven sports with 160 student-athletes, and developed new athletic facilities on campus.  The department invested in lights for the baseball field, new fields for soccer and softball, and fostered strategic partnerships with CORA Health, Ground Force Fitness and the Jacksonville Jaguars. A beautiful, new athletics website also debuted in 2018.  

Jones also serves as the head men’s basketball coach for the Eagles.  In 2012, he worked as the associate head coach to Pat Milligan, and helped lead the Eagles to the 2012 BC-NIT National Championship.  2012-2013 was TBC’s first year in the NCCAA and Jones was appointed as the head coach of the new NCCAA program, leading the team to a 24-6 overall record (12-0 in region play) and the 2013 NCCAA South Region regular season and tournament championship. The Eagles were ranked as high as #2 in the national poll that season and made the Final Four at the national tournament.  

Since those first titles in 2012 and 2013, TBC has continued to experience success on the court under Jones’ leadership. The Eagles earned South Region regular season championships in 2014, 2015, & 2019; a second Region Tournament title in 2019, and national tournament appearances in 2015 (CCNIT-3rd) and 2019 (NCCAA-Elite 8).

Coach Jones’ head coaching career began in 2001 when he took over the men’s basketball program at Nyack College in New York. During his 7-year tenure with the Warriors, he worked hard to instill a culture of success while overseeing Nyack’s transition into a quality NCAA Division II men’s basketball program. Jones finished his Nyack career ranked third among conference coaches for total wins during the CACC’s Div. II era.

In 2003-04, Jones led the Warriors to the NCCAA East Region Championship and the programs first-ever final four appearance in a national tournament. In 2004-05, Nyack defended its East Region Championship, winning back-to-back titles for the first time in school history. That season also marked the first 20-win campaign in 11 years, and the first-ever number-1 ranking in a national poll (NCCAA).  The Warriors were the number 1 team in the CACC in every defensive category, including defensive field goal percentage and points allowed.

After graduating four senior starters, the Warriors returned to the hardwood in 2005-06 with four sophomores in the line-up. Despite their youth, that team managed to earn Nyack’s first win over a nationally ranked NCAA D-II opponent and earn the first NCAA regional ranking in school history, while reaching the CACC semi-finals. Jones’ Nyack teams made it to the post-season in five of the seven years he coached.

Prior to his arrival at Nyack, he served as the assistant head coach at Geneva College (NAIA) in Beaver Falls, PA. While at Geneva he helped Head Coach Jeff Santarsiero (2013 NCCAA Hall of Fame) lead the Golden Tornadoes back to the 20-win plateau and the 2001 NCCAA National Basketball Championship. Jones was the teams’ defensive coach and Geneva finished the campaign as the number one team in the AMC in every defensive category.

Prior to his stint at Geneva, Jones served as an assistant coach to Gregg Marshall at NCAA Div. I Winthrop University during the 1998-1999 season. Winthrop won the Big South Championship and earned that schools’ first bid to the NCAA Tournament. Jones was on the bench in the RCA Dome in Indianapolis as Winthrop took on the top-seeded Tigers of Auburn University.

From 1996-1998, he served as an assistant coach to Jeff Meyer at NCAA Div. I Liberty University. While at Liberty, Coach Jones helped the Flames set a school record for victories in a season (23 in 1997) and earn a share of the Big South regular season championship. Liberty also reached a 125 power rating in the Sagarin College Basketball computer ranking (USA-Today) of division I teams, the highest finish in school history. In January of 1998, Liberty rocked the college basketball world by posting its first-ever win over an ACC opponent, a 69-64 victory at Virginia.

Jones has also been formally recognized for his efforts. In 1999, Dr. Anthony DiGiorgio, President of Winthrop University, awarded him the Presidential Citation for outstanding contributions to the University. In 2004, Jones was honored by Kentucky Governor Ernie Fletcher as a member of the Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels, for outstanding service to the game of college basketball. He won Coach of the Year awards in 2014 and 2022, and reached the 300-win plateau in 2019. He is an active member of the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) and is highly regarded by his peers as a great competitor and student of the game.

Coach Jones has a master’s degree in counseling and human relations from Liberty University. He also received a B.S. degree from Liberty in 1989, where he was selected “Student of the Year” during his senior year.  He and his wife Amy reside in the Jacksonville area.