Joseph Jones was announced as an assistant coach on head coach Austin Claunch's inaugural UTSA staff in April 2024, joining the Roadrunners after four seasons at Tarleton State.
Jones started his fourth year at Tarleton State as an assistant coach in 2023 but took up the role of acting head coach after Billy Gillespie had to leave his role after medical circumstances following the fourth game. What the Texans accomplished under Jones’ leadership led to the most historic season in program history – compiling a 23-8 record with him at the helm, leading Tarleton to its first WAC Semifinal appearance as well as a CIT Semifinal bid.
“Super excited to be a part of this staff,” Jones said at the time of his hire. “Coach Claunch has done a lot of winning as a coach and I just want to add to that. It's going to take some hard work to get it going but everyone is hungry for the challenge and looking forward to making a lot of noise as a program.”
Jones’ Texans secured a program record with a WAC 10-game streak that stretched from January to March, upsetting eventual WAC Champion, Grand Canyon – which went on to face Claunch’s Alabama squad in the NCAA second round.
The squad proceeded to set a new wins program record with 25 victories and its 16 triumphs in WAC play were the highest in any conference in program history – earning a spot among only 17 NCAA DI teams on the year to register 10 road wins and was the only reclassifying program on the list.
After the record-breaking season in his first stint as a head coach, Jones was tabbed the WAC Coach of the Year. He tallied the second-most victories of all first-year D1 head coaches in the 2023-24 season, was one of 10 coaches that notched at least 20 wins in their first season, and surpassed Texas' Rodney Terry's 22 wins for the most interim wins in the past two seasons. Tarleton earned a program-high second seed in the WAC Tournament and reached the Semifinal, going on to host its first postseason tournament, the College Insider.com Postseason Tournament presented by BSN SPORTS and reached the tournament Semifinal – missing the Final by a single-point loss to Purdue Fort Wayne.
Under Jones’ guidance, Tarleton’s KiAndre Gaddy received WAC Defensive Player of the Year laurels and was named a top-25 finalist for the Lefty Driessel Award – presented annually to the NCAA’s top defensive player. Jakorie Smith became to program’s first All-WAC first-teamer, while Gaddy was joined by Emmanuel Innocenti on the WAC All-Defensive team. At the end of the regular season, Tarleton was in the top-3 in nine statistical categories, including topping the league in four, including fewest turnovers per game (13.1), turnover margin (+ 3.0), steals per game (9.0) and free throw percentage (75.2%). Nationally, Tarleton had the 18th most steals per game, 26th highest turnover margin, and 36th most turnovers forced per game.
Beginning his time in Stephenville, Gillespie hired Jones at midseason in 2020-21, bringing the former Texas A&M Hall of Famer aboard a week before conference play began. In 2020-21, Jones helped coach Tarleton to eight of their 10 wins during the program’s inaugural Division I season and helped develop and coach four All-WAC selections, including the Freshman of the Year in Freddy Hicks. The 2020-21 Texans would have led the nation in steals per game (10.5), ranked second in turnovers forced per game (19.5) and 15th in the nation in points allowed (62.3) if transitional programs were qualified for NCAA statistical rankings. Jones was known as a defensive force during his playing days in College Station and brought that same mentality to Tarleton during his first full season as an assistant coach in 2021-22. The Texans finished the season fifth among all D1 programs in turnover percent differential (+6.4), ninth in turnover margin (+4.1), 11th in turnovers forced (505) and 14th in turnovers forced per game (16.3). Tarleton ranked second in the WAC in all four categories. Individually, Jones helped coach Shamir Bogues to the All-WAC Defensive Team - becoming the first player in program history to be selected to the All-Defensive Team.
Fast-forward to his third season on the staff; his defensive intensity helped lead Tarleton’s prolific defense to pace the WAC in steals (9.7 spg) and turnover margin (+5.68). That season, the Texans notched one of their best home records in school history, boasting a 12-2 record at TSU’s Wisdom Gym. That squad won its first nine home games, extending the win streak into February. Jones also helped guide the team to a pair of wins at the Paradise Jam and a runner-up finish for the first time in school history. For the second-straight season, Jones helped guide Bogues to the WAC All-Defensive Team, while Hicks also earned individual recognition as a second-team All-WAC selection.
After a standout prep career at Normangee High School, Jones played four years at Texas A&M under Gillespie and then Mark Turgeon, starting all 131 games of his college career, including every game Gillespie coached for the Aggies. Averaging 12.8 ppg and 6.4 rpg, he helped the team to a 95-37 with a trip to the NIT Quarterfinals, three NCAA Tournament Appearances, and an NCAA Sweet 16 berth in his four seasons in Aggieland. He was named to the Big 12 All-Freshman Team in 2005 and was All-Big 12 for each of his four years (2005-08), garnering NABC All-District accolades in 2006, 2007 and 2008. He was inducted into the Texas A&M Athletics Hall of Fame in the 2019 class.
Jones joined the Houston Rockets 2008 Summer League team before beginning his professional playing career overseas. In 2008, Jones signed with Le Havre in France and went on to play in France, Israel, Spain and Iran. Before joining the Texans and the college coaching ranks, Jones closed out his playing career with Santeros de Aguada in Puerto Rico (2019-20), where he won the BSN Championship in 2019.