Fri Feb 15 16:15:36 2008

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South Alabama names Jones first football coach

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Mobile, AL (Sports Network) - South Alabama named Joey Jones its first head football coach on Friday.

Jones, 45, returns to his hometown after two years at Birmingham Southern, where he was hired in 2006 to restart that school's football program. After spending a year overseeing administrative aspects of the Division III program, Jones led the 2007 squad of 126 freshmen to a 3-7 overall record, including a pair of wins over established junior college programs.

Before moving into the college ranks, Jones compiled an impressive 125-38 record in 13 years at the at the high school level, including a 10-year run at Birmingham's Mountain Brook High School, where he was 101-27 from 1996-2005.

A graduate of the University of Alabama, Jones finished his collegiate career with 71 receptions, 1,386 yards and 15 touchdowns, ranking third on the Crimson Tide's touchdown receptions chart and seventh in career receiving yards.

He was later selected to Alabama's All-Decade Team for the 1980s and played professionally with the Birmingham Stallions of the USFL and the NFL's Atlanta Falcons.

South Alabama plans to begin playing football in the Football Championship Subdivision with three to five games in the 2009 season. The school then plans a full schedule in the 2010 season before earmarking 2011 and 2012 as transition years to college football's top division, the Football Bowl Subdivision. The school plans 2013 as its first full season in the FBS.