Anthony Jones - Assistant Coach / Running Backs - Football Coaches

Anthony Jones

Title:
Assistant Coach / Running Backs
Email:
football@memphis.edu
Phone:
901-678-5119

Anthony Jones is in his fifth season as the running backs coach in 2022. He joined the staff in December 2017 and coached the running backs in preparation for Memphis' Liberty Bowl game appearance.

In 2021, Jones helped the Tigers to the program’s eighth-straight bowl appearance, as the team was named EasyPost Hawai’i Bowl champions after Hawai’i withdrew from the game. On the year, the Tigers posted 400 or more total yards on offense seven times, including 680 in the win at Arkansas State and 614 at Tulsa.

Jones continued to garner impressive accolades, as he was selected for the AFCA 35 Under 35 Leadership Institute, as well as the 2022 NCAA and NFL Coaches Academy.

The AFCA 35 Under 35 Coaches Leadership Institute is a prestigious program aimed at identifying and developing premier, future leaders in the football coaching profession, while the NCAA and NFL Coaches Academy provides current, full-time college football coaches at NCAA member schools an educational opportunity to build connections and develop leadership acumen to pursue their career aspirations.

Jones, who is from Memphis, placed his mark on the Tigers' offense immediately. In his first two seasons in charge of the running backs, the Tigers' rushing attack piled up 6,533 yards and scored 78 touchdowns on the ground. The 6,533 yards were the most over a two-season span (2018-19) in program history, and the 78 touchdowns via the ground were second in school history to only the 79 scored in 2017-18.

In 2020, Jones and the running backs helped Memphis rank 22nd in the nation in total offense (453.1) and also finished the year ranked 17th in both passing offense (307.9) and first down offense (260).

In the 2020 NFL Draft, Kenneth Gainwell was picked in the fifth round (150th overall) by the Philadelphia Eagles. Gainwell's selection marked the fourth time in the past three NFL drafts Memphis has had a running back chosen.

The 2019 campaign had Jones retooling his backfield a couple of times. The result: another banner year on the ground. The Tigers rushed for more than 2,500 yards and scored 32 touchdowns, despite losing its lone veteran, Taylor, to an injury in the season opener. Jones then mixed a newcomer tandem of Kenneth Gainwell and Kylan Watkins with “do-it-all” Antonio Gibson to produce an attack that proved integral to the offense’s overall success.

Jones’ work yielded Gainwell’s explosion onto the collegiate football scene. Gainwell, the 2019 American Athletic Conference Rookie of the Year and Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) Freshman of the Year, was second in the AAC in total rushing yards (1,459) and 12^thnationally. Gainwell led all AAC freshman in total rushing yards and was the nation’s top freshmen in that statistical category. He was second among freshmen in yards per game nationally (104.2). Watkins added more than 300 yards, and Gibson, who split time at receiver and running back, had 369 yards.

Gibson was the 66^thoverall selection (third round) by the Washington Football Team in the 2020 NFL Draft. Gainwell enters the 2020 season as one of college football’s most dynamic backs and is on the Doak Walker and Maxwell Award preseason watch lists.

His first season in 2018 had Jones with a lot of experience at his controls in Darrell Henderson, Tony Pollard and Patrick Taylor Jr. The rushing attack – led by the trio – set school records for carries, rushing yards and rushing touchdowns and combined for 42 runs of 20 or more yards. Henderson, a 2018 All-American Athletic Conference first team unanimous selection, rushed for the third-most yards in program history (1,909) and tied a school mark with 22 rushing scores. Taylor also went over the 1,000-yard plateau (1,122) and added 16 touchdowns. Pollard ran for 552 yards and six scores.

In the 2019 NFL Draft, Henderson and Pollard both heard their names called. Henderson was selected as the No. 70 overall pick (6^thin the third round) by the Los Angeles Rams. Pollard quickly followed in the fourth round (No. 128 pick) as a Dallas Cowboys' selection. Henderson and Pollard saw NFL action as rookies in 2019.

A 2004 Westwood High School graduate, Jones left the Bluff City to attend the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, playing wide receiver for the Mocs from 2004-07. After his playing career at Chattanooga, the 2006 All-Southern Conference (SoCon) first team honoree spent 2007 as a graduate assistant coach at his alma mater, before returning to Westwood as an assistant coach. He served in that role at Westwood from 2007-10 and took over as the program’s head coach in 2010.

As the head coach at Westwood, he guided the Longhorns to its first winning season in 18 years. That marked the first of three-straight conference and regional championships (2010, 2011, 2012) for Westwood.

In 2013, Jones left to take over the program at Cordova High School. His first season at Cordova saw the program post its first winning season in nine years. Three years later, his 2016 Wolves registered the most wins in school history (12-2 record) and advanced to the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association (TSSAA) Division I Class 6A state playoffs semifinal round, falling to the eventual state champs. In 2017, Jones led Cordova to an 8-3 record and a TSSAA Division I Class 6A playoffs appearance.

In six seasons at the high school level, 75 Jones-coached players signed football scholarships.

Jones was named an AutoZone Liberty Bowl High School All-Star Game assistant coach three times (2012, 2014 and 2015) and and was selected to coach in the 2017 Toyota East-West All-Star Classic in Clarksville, Tennessee. Jones was awarded the District 16A Coach of the Year honor in 2011 and 2012 and also the District 14A Coach of the Year accolade in 2013.

A 2007 Chattanooga graduate with a degree in business, Jones also holds his master’s degree in education from Union University. Jones and his wife, Christina, have two children: Kenzie and Kaylie.

Jones At A Glance

Alma Mater	University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, 2007 Union University, 2010
Playing Experience	University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (2004-07)

Coaching Experience

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga	Graduate Assistant (2007)
Westwood High School	Assistant Coach (2007-10) Head Coach (2010-12)
Cordova High School	Head Coach (2013-17)
University of Memphis	Assistant Coach, Running Backs (2017-Present)