Memphis Tigers running backs coach Anthony Jones has been with Memphis since December of 2017. Before he came to Memphis he was a high school head coach at Cordova and at Westwood before that.

Just how successful was he? Before he got to Westwood they had not been to playoffs in 18 years. In his first year as head coach he got them into the first round of the playoffs. The next year he got them to the 2nd round.

Colleges were noticing his success. He interview for a spot at Delta State and Carson Newman but chose to stay in the high school ranks. He made the move to Cordova in 2013 and made an immediate impact. He took the Wolves from 1-9 from the previous year to 6-4 and into the first round of the playoffs. It was Cordova's first winning season in 9 years.

2016 was a break out year for Cordova as they went 12-2 on the year and made it to the state semi-finals. Their only 2 losses were to Whitehaven. Whitehaven head coach Rodney Saulsberry has high praises for Coach Jones.

"He's a man of high character and faith. Hard working, and willing to learn. His teams were well coached and highly motivated."

Now Saulsberry gets to see another side of Coach Jones. The recruiter. How is Coach Jones as a recruiter?

"As a recruiter, he's been honest with what the staff needs and is looking for and has pursued our prospects accordingly. Hope Memphis can win some battles soon."

After a successful 2017 season with Cordova where he went 8-3 with a first round playoff appearance, an opportunity opened up on the Memphis staff.

Running backs coach Darrell Dickey joined the Texas A&M staff and Coach Norvell needed a new position coach. Anthony Jones was a candidate and Coach Dickey knew that Coach Jones would be a great choice to replace him at Memphis.

"Even when Coach Fuente was at Memphis we knew about Coach Jones. He made it a point to come out to Memphis' practices a lot. He came out to study the drills and better himself. When Norvell was there we would have high school coaches come in and watch film and Coach Jones was almost always there. You could tell it was very important to him and wanted to better himself as a coach."

Coach Dickey was the local recruiter for Memphis when he was here and he remembers going to Cordova and seeing some of Coach Jones practices.

"I went out and watched some of his practices and it was one of the more structured organized practices that I've ever been to. You could tell he went over and above on his free time to do was was necessary to better himself. The second thing is he really showed how much he cared. He would bend over backwards for his players through the recruiting process. Both schools he was a head coach at improved under his watch. The more you're around him...he's a very likeable person. I knew once he got the opportunity that he would do really, really well and you can tell he really cares for the players."

In his six years as a high school head coach, Coach Jones had 75 players go on to college with scholarships.

Former Memphis running back Patrick Taylor had nothing but good things to say about his former position coach.

"He was very relatable, felt like I could talk to him about anything and he always wanted the best for his guys."

We've heard from folks that have been around him but let's see what he has to say. Click on the link below to hear the podcast interview with Coach Jones. Why did he start coaching? What's the best thing about being a coach? Find out by listening to the podcast.