Jones, Bill

The contrast of growing up in the small community of Antioch to the bright lights of the Final Four in 1979
where he won a national championship was probably a bit startling to this energetic inductee. Jones averaged 21 points, and 11 rebounds, per game during his final two seasons at Lexington High School. He then moved to Florence State Teachers College to play for Ed Billingham from 1955-57. His first job as a head coach was at Yuma High School in Colorado in 1958. Then he briefly coached in high school in Alabama at Lauderdale County High School and Opelika High School before moving to Marion Institute. Montevallo was his first four-year college where he remained four years before coming home to UNA. His teams established a home-court advantage by winning nearly 82 percent of their games at Flowers Hall. His UNA teams were 259-141 and his overall coaching record for 29 seasons was 493-310. At UNA, his teams won three Gulf South Conference championships, made four Final Four appearances and the 1979 squad was the first collegiate basketball team from Alabama to win a national championship. Jones retired after serving as Athletic Director for the University of North Alabama. The UNA Athletic Complex was named in his honor in 2011 as the Bill Jones Athletic Complex.