Tulane BaseballTulane BaseballRick Jones enters his fifth season as skipper of the Green Wave baseball program. The 1997 Conference USA and two-time Louisiana coach of the year has reached many milestones during the past four seasons, including becoming the school's second all-time winningest coach and taking the Wave to two NCAA postseason appearances, as well as a conference tournament championship and a regular-season championship.
Last season Tulane won the Conference USA regular-season championship going 19-7 in league action. The Green Wave finished the season with a 40-21 record, its third 40-win season since Jones arrived. For his efforts Jones was honored as the 1997 Conference USA Coach of the Year.
In 1996, Jones guided the team to a 43-20 record, including winning the 1996 Conference USA Baseball Tournament, in its inaugural season and a berth in the NCAA South II Regional.
In 1995, having lost six starters in the field, six of the team's top eight pitchers and 14 lettermen overall, the "Green" Wave truly earned its nickname. Seven freshmen started games in the field for Tulane and of the 12 pitchers that took the mound for the Wave, nine were freshmen.
Despite the squad's inexperience, Jones led Tulane to another season of national ranking and to the finals of the Metro Conference Tournament.
In 1994, Jones coached a senior-laden team to a 41-24 record and NCAA South Regional berth. The Wave's postseason appearance was the first in Tulane history by a first-year head coach.
Before coming to Tulane, Jones spent four seasons as the assistant head coach at Georgia Tech with responsibilities as the pitching coach and the recruiting coordinator. He helped the Yellow Jackets reach four consecutive NCAA Tournaments and sign a nationally-ranked recruiting class in each of his seasons as recruiting coordinator.
In addition, Jones' pitching staff posted team ERAs below 4.00 in three of those four years. His 1992 and 1993 pitching staffs finished ranked 10th and 6th in the final NCAA statistics those years, the only time that has happened in the history of the Georgia Tech baseball program.
In 1993, the Yellow Jackets were 47-14, the Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season champion and the consensus No. 1-ranked team in the nation in the final regular-season polls.
As recruiting coordinator, Jones' recruiting classes at Georgia Tech ranked in the top 25 all three years. He signed the fourth-best recruiting class in the nation in 1991, according to the annual Collegiate Baseball newspaper survey. In 1992, the Tech recruiting class was ranked 21st, while in 1993 it ranked 10th. The three recruiting classes carried Georgia Tech to the College World Series championship game in 1994.
In his first year at Tech, Jones was also pitching coach and recruiting coordinator for Team USA, winning a bronze medal at the Goodwill Games and a silver medal at the Presidential Cup in Taiwan.
Before going to Tech, Jones served as head coach at Elon (N.C.) College, where he directed the Fightin' Christians to a 174-61 record and three trips to the NAIA World Series from 1985-89. His .743 winning percentage is the best of any coach in Elon school history. Jones' Elon teams won four NAIA District 26 titles and made three appearances in the NAIA World Series and were ranked in the nation's top 10 each year. He was a three-time Coach of the Year selection in the Carolinas Conference, District 26 and Area VII. In 1989, he was named NAIA National Coach of the Year, when he led Elon to a 36-9 season and a No. 5 national ranking.
Prior to his stint at Elon, Jones spent three seasons (1982-84) at Ferrum (Va.) College, leading the Panthers to a 102-34-1 record and a pair of top 10 rankings.
Jones was head coach at E.E. Smith High School in Fayetteville, N.C., for three seasons and worked in the Chatham (N.C.) County school system for three years before that.
Jones is a 1975 graduate of UNC Wilmington and earned his master's from North Carolina A&T in 1977, both in physical education. He was a two-year baseball letterman at UNCW, which was an NAIA finalist in 1975. He also played two years at Sandhills (N.C.) Community College.
Jones is married to the former Gina Zwan, an administative and special education teacher in the Jefferson Parish school system.
| 1997 | Conference USA Coach of the Year |
| 1996 | Louisiana Baseball Coach of the Year |
| 1994 | Louisiana Baseball Coach of the Year |
| 1993 | Georgia Assistant Coach of the Year |
| 1990 | Goodwill Games Bronze Medal |
| (Team USA Assistant Coach) | |
| Presidential Cup Silver Medal | |
| (Team USA Assistant Coach) | |
| 1989 | Diamond Baseball National Coach of the Year |
| NAIA National Coach of the Year | |
| NAIA Regional & District Coach of the Year | |
| NAIA District Coach of the Year | |
| Carolina Conference Coach of the Year | |
| 1987 | NAIA Regional & District Coach of the Year |
| 1985 | NAIA District Coach of the Year |
| Carolina Conference Coach of the Year | |
| Record as a Head Coach (432-186-1, .698) | |
Assistant Coach: Jim Schlossnagle
Assistant Coach: Rob Cooper
Assistant Coach: Buddy Gouldsmith