Ever since the day he first stepped foot on the campus at Shorter University, Phil Jones has made relationships as the cornerstone of the Hawks’ football program he was tasked to begin.
Nine years later that foundation remains firm and one that Jones continues to build upon as the head coach and his 2013 edition of the Hawks head into a challenging new season that will be the third and final year of Shorter’s transition towards becoming a full NCAA Division II member a year from now.
What veteran coach has seen, however, is just how his team’s relationship with God and with each other has already produced results.
In their first full season as playing as a Division II program last year, the Hawks produced their sixth winning season in the eight years of the team’s existence recording a 6-5 overall record and, much to the surprise of many, a 2-3 record in the conference they are a part of – the nationally-known Gulf South Conference.
Included in that inaugural Division II schedule was a season-opening win over Division I FCS foe Campbell University a pair of back-to-back victories to end the year over GSC opponents West Georgia and Delta State.
Success on the gridiron is nothing new for the Hawks who have played under Jones’ watch.
Prior joining the NCAA Division II ranks, Shorter emerged in rapid fashion as one of the top NAIA Division I teams in the nation and produced some of the country’s top players.
Just three years after starting the team, Jones saw the 2008 Hawks put the program in the national spotlight, winning their first Mid-South Conference West Division championship rolling up a record nine wins – Shorter was ranked No. 11 in the final NAIA national poll – and securing their first postseason appearance by earning a berth in the NAIA National Playoffs.
For his work that season, Jones picked up a wealth of post-season awards including Mid-South Conference West Division Coach of the Year and American Football Coaches’ Association (AFCA) Region I Coach of the Year.
But what Jones was most proud of came after he honored as the 2008 Grant Teaff FCA National Coach of the Year, joining an elite class of honorees that includes Tommy Bowden, Sylvester Croom and Tommy Tuberville.
In 2009, Jones’ charges returned to the upper echelon of the national polls, climbing as high as No. 10 in the ratings and produced a pair of players who received postseason accolades. Shorter’s A.J. Cooley and Logan Lollis repeated as Mid-South Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year, respectively, and were each honored as College Fanz NAIA All-Americans, while Cooley became Shorter’s first-ever AFCA All-America selection.
The next year saw the Hawks turn in several landmarks in the team’s brief history when they defeated eventual Mid-South East Division champion and three-time NAIA national champion Georgetown College for the first time in school history; boasted the nation’s No. 2 rushing attack at over 310 yards a game; set school records for rushing yards and total yards in a single game in a blowout win over nationally-ranked Webber International; and became a part of college football history when they lined up in front of 30,237 fans at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta against NCAA Division I Georgia State University in the Panthers’ first-ever game,
Jones made sure that Shorter’s final year as an NAIA program in 2011 would be just as memorable and the Hawks responded by remaining in contention for a conference title and a postseason berth until the final week of the season, and in the process saw a number of players achieve postseason honors.
That year Shorter placed 12 players on the Mid-South All-Conference team, five of which were honored with first team nods. Linebacker Demery Hawkins, the conference's leading tackler, was named the Mid-South West Division Defensive Player of the Year and was also honored as the program's second-ever AFCA All-American. Linebacker Dominique Henfield picked up MSC West Division Freshman Defensive Player of the Year as well.
At the same time the Hawks were being noticed for their athletic ability on the field during Jones’ eight years, they were being recognized for their achievements off the field, where nearly 100 student-athletes have earned conference All-Academic team status.
Jones came to Shorter in 2005 from NCAA Division I-AA (now Football Championship Subdivision) Gardner-Webb University in Boiling Springs, N.C. He served as an assistant coach for the Bulldogs, who won back-to-back Big South Conference championships during his tenure. Prior to Gardner-Webb, Jones served as an assistant coach at Southern Methodist University and coached under Jim Donnan at the University of Georgia from 1997-2001.
In addition to his collegiate coaching success, Jones coached Georgia high school football for 29 years, his last stop coming at Winder-Barrow High from 1984-97 where he led his teams to the playoffs eight times and compiling an 81-58-2 record in those 14 years. In 1993, Winder-Barrow advanced to the State AAA semifinals, earning Jones the honor of 1993 AAA Coach of the Year.
Jones, who served on the Georgia High School Association (GHSA) Executive Committee for three terms and as the organization’s chairman from 1993-95, was named AAA Athletic Director of the Year by the Georgia Athletic Directors Association in 1994.
A native of Thomaston, Ga., Jones graduated from Mercer University in 1968. He and his wife, Janie, have two children and five grandchildren.
