“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” — Mark 8:36
Judging by the sheer number of outbursts, the gross count of clogged arteries and the general sideline surliness that so many in the profession display, college football coaches don’t seem to be the most contented bunch.
If you had to slither your way up the coaching ladder, you might feel the same way. A little lost, a bit regretful, maybe a smidge spiteful.
Few have the wherewithal to take a step back once they’re on the ladder, lest they fall.
Better not to step on it in the first place. Better to skip it entirely.
Just ask South Alabama coach Joey Jones.
Coach — and dad
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Look, you play for Bear Bryant, and your name is going to carry some weight. Particularly if you choose to work in Alabama.
Jones played wide receiver for the Crimson Tide from 1979-1983 and he was a star, selected All-SEC as a senior, invited to the Senior Bowl. Jones was so good that he was named to Alabama’s All-Decade team. He hooked on with the Birmingham Stallions of the United States Football League, then played a year with the Atlanta Falcons.
Jones parlayed his brush with fame into a profession, but he never betrayed himself. He committed to his wife, Elise, that he would stick to the high school level, at least until their three kids left home.
Jones took his first gig with Birmingham’s Briarwood Christian in 1989 after spurning an offer to return to Alabama as a graduate assistant. Two years later, he became coach at Dora High School, and after a successful stint there, he became head coach at Mountain Brook High School in 1996. He would coach there for 10 years, winning four regional titles.
Jones was happy, his family was happy. He says that even then, he knew “the grind football has on families, especially your wife.” He wanted to be around his kids — not to coach them, but simply to watch them play.
“I made football games, basketball games that were played on my street,” he said.
“That’s been the most satisfying thing. I’m not looking back and saying, ‘Wow, I don’t know my daughter or son,’ which I hear from other coaches.”
It wasn’t until his youngest son, Jake, graduated from high school in May 2007 that Jones would even consider a college gig.
Birmingham-Southern called in June.
Building his own program
Jones is not the kind of guy to hunt and peck for every opening, so he almost certainly would still be with the Panthers had fate — and the internet — not intervened.
A year after resurrecting the Birmingham-Southern program, going 1-7 in the team’s first year, he read online that South Alabama was starting a football program from scratch, and, Jones says, “Chills went up and down my spine.”
It’s not that he was racing away from the Panthers, who have fared admirably under his replacement, Eddie Garfinkle.
But Jones was born and raised in Mobile. Home is home.
“I knew it’s where I wanted to be,” Jones said of Mobile, where South Alabama is located. “One of those moments in time where I just knew what I had to do.”
Jones made inroads with the Jaguars’ administration and let his interest be known.
His was a compelling story: Local boy makes good. Played for Bear Bryant and all.
“When you played under that guy, and you were a good player, referred by that staff, that is very, very heavy,” Jaguars safety Roman Buchanan said.
“From a résumé standpoint, you mention Bear Bryant, you can’t get much better. I mean, people at Bama games still wear his hat.”
A few more wins, and a few more bowl games, and South Alabama fans might just cop Jones’ style.
A few more losses, and Jones might go into hiding.
“When we lose a game, it feels like I’m letting everybody down,” he said. “It’s so personal for me. If it’d been, I dunno, a Boise State or Western Kentucky, if you lose, it hurts, but you maybe don’t have a feeling you let all these people down.”
It’s a tough feeling to shake, when an entire town knows your face.
Back home again
When you return to your hometown to coach at the local college, and when that school is located in Mobile, Alabama, life becomes almost one big country song. Maybe John Cougar Mellencamp, even.
Jones’ old coaches and teammates regularly pop up at practice. His old Little League baseball coaches dote on him. His high school coach, Alabama high school coaching legend Robert Shaw, comes around often and sells commemorative team rings. The Jaguars bought them after their first bowl appearance two years ago.
The Tastee-Freez that Mellencamp so longingly references in “Jack & Diane”? Jones has his own version, and he puts it to use.
“Yup, we’ve got a place called Tiny Diny, right across from the house I grew up in,” Jones said. “The first thing we started doing when we got the job is we brought our whole staff and had meetings at the Tiny Diny. We put our program together and ate a great meal.”
You’ll find great old places like Tiny Diny in every college football town the country over.
Not that Jones is looking.
He’s right at home, and he’ll stay a while.
“It’s almost like a dream to be back in Mobile,” he said. “I used to go to USA basketball, and never in my mind did I ever think I’d be coaching football here one day.”
