UA Pine Bluff Athletics

Joshua Jones was named to the UAPB Football staff in 2021.

Jones comes to Golden Lion Nation from the University of South Alabama, where he spent three seasons on the staff. In his first year with the program, Jones’ efforts help Darian Mills and Jalen Thompson rank among the top five in the Sun Belt Conference in passes defended per game after the two combined to break up 18 passes while intercepting five others.  In addition to Jaguar cornerbacks accounting for two-thirds of the team’s interception total in the fall, Mills became just the third player at the position in program history to receive all-league recognition after he was named honorable mention all-Sun Belt his final season at the collegiate level.

In 2019, Jones helped Travis Reed record team-leading totals with three interceptions and 10 other passes broken up — ranking among the top five in the conference in both categories — to be voted third-team all-Sun Belt, while Thompson was able to conclude his Jaguar career as the program’s all-time leader with nine interceptions as well as tied for second in school history with 22 passes defensed.  Under his direction Devin Rockette was also able to contribute with six passes broken up and an interception in his first season as a starter at the collegiate level.

Prior to South Alabama, Jones served in the same role at Central Arkansas. During that time, Jones helped the Bears go 20-5 overall and 17-1 in the Southland Conference.  In his first season on the staff, he helped both Tremon Smith and Tyler Williams earn first-team all-league accolades — the latter was named to multiple All-America teams as well after leading the nation in passes defensed — as UCA ended the campaign 10-3 following a first-round victory over Illinois State in the opening round of the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision playoffs.  The next fall, after the Bears finished the year 10-2 — earning the fourth seed in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision playoffs — including a 9-0 mark en route to the Southland Conference title, Smith was named first-team All-American by one organization and third-team All-American by another while again picking up first-team all-league honors under Jones’ guidance.

In his only season as an assistant coach at Henderson (Ark.) State, Jones helped the Reddies to an 11-2 mark and a first-round victory in the 2015 NCAA Division II playoffs.  He began his coaching career as an assistant as his high school alma mater — Bishop Montgomery in Torrance, Calif. — during the 2010 and ’11 seasons before taking a graduate assistant position both coaching and working with the strength and conditioning program at Arkansas Tech for one year.  In 2014, Jones served as a graduate assistant coach at Missouri Western, working in the same capacity at Troy during the spring and summer the following year.

He received All-America honors at two different schools during his collegiate playing career, first accomplishing the feat at Minnesota State-Moorhead in 2007 after leading NCAA Division II with 10 interceptions before being honored following his senior season in ’09 at Harding (Ark.) when he was credited with 94 tackles and 11 passes broken up to go along with eight interceptions.  Jones played two seasons in the professional ranks — one in the Indoor Football League, one in the Arena Football League —before entering the coaching profession.

Jones is a 2013 graduate of Arkansas Tech with a bachelor’s degree in professional studies.