RIP: Florida Women's Coach Tom Jones

[rainbowgirl28]

http://www.trackandfieldnews.com/displa ... p?id=14196


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA SPORTS INFORMATION
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 21, 2007

FLORIDA WOMEN'S TRACK & FIELD HEAD COACH TOM JONES PASSES AWAY

GAINESVILLE, Fla. - After a lengthy and courageous battle with cancer,
University of Florida women's track and field coach Tom Jones died on
Wednesday morning in Gainesville. Jones was 62.

Jones is survived by his wife of 30 years, Sandy, his sons, Chris and
Sean, daughter-in-law Kate, grand-daughters Sarah and Abby, and Terry
Stanley.

One of the most successful teachers of his generation, Jones followed
his passion for track for more than 35 years with head coaching stops at
Florida (1992-07), Arizona State (1988-92), Texas-El Paso (1984-88) and
North Carolina State (1978-84). In his head coaching career, Jones
tutored his athletes to the tune of 335 All-America honors and led his
teams to 12 conference titles and two national championships, while
Jones was honored as the NCAA Coach of the Year three times and was a
conference coach of the year on nine occasions, including seven times in
the Southeastern Conference.

Under his watch, 23 school records were set at Florida, while Jones
guided Maicel Malone to the American record in the 400m that endured for
19 years (51.05) and the 1991 Arizona State 4x400m also broke the
American record (3:29.77).

"Tom gave his heart and soul to coaching and mentoring his athletes,"
Florida athletics director Jeremy Foley said. "I'm at a loss for words
how to describe what he's meant to the University of Florida. You can
measure what he accomplished on the track - all the SEC titles and the
All-Americans he coached. What you can't measure is the quality of the
individuals, the student-athletes that Tom helped to shape and mold into
tremendous people. No one did that better than Tom."

Jones oversaw the Florida women's track and field program for nearly
half of its existence as he served as the head coach for 15 of the
program's 35 seasons. Hired prior to the 1992 cross country season,
Jones guided 71 athletes to 245 All-America honors on the track, while
his teams posted 15 top-10 finishes at the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor
Championships. Under Jones, Florida turned in its highest NCAA finishes
of second in 2003, 2004 and 2005, all at the indoor championships.

Jones led his squads to six Southeastern Conference titles (1997 indoor
& outdoor, 1998 outdoor, 2002 indoor, 2003 outdoor, 2004 indoor), while
helping his athletes claim 77 SEC individual or relay titles. He was
named the NCAA Women's National Indoor Coach of the Year in 1997 and
2002 and the NCAA Outdoor Coach of the Year in 1997.

Countless Olympians honed their skills under Jones' guidance as well.
At Florida, he coached 2004 Olympians Novlene Williams (Jamaica) and
Tiandra Ponteen (St. Kitts) among others. While at Arizona State, he
tutored Nigerian Olympian Ime Akpan, Lynda Tolbert (USA) and eventual
1996 U.S. gold medal 4x400m participant Maicel Malone. In his stint at
UTEP, Jones oversaw two-time Bahamas Olympian Norbert Elliott, U.S.
Olympian Cynthia Henry, the Netherlands Olympian Frans Maas and Canadian
Olympian Linda McCurdy. While at North Carolina State Jones saw athletes
John Crist (USA) and Augustin Young (Jamaica) participate in the 1984
Olympics.

In addition to his enormous success on the track, Jones also guided the
Gators to unparalleled success in the classroom. In his tenure as head
coach, athletes under Jones' watch were named to the Southeastern
Conference Academic Honor Roll 224 times, including at least 20 athletes
in each of the last six years. Florida was honored as the 2003 U.S.
Track and Field and Cross Country Association's All-Academic Team of the
Year. In the first two NCAA Graduation Success Rate reports, the Florida
women's track and field team had perfect GSRs of 100 percent in both the
fall of 2005 and 2006.

Services for Jones will be determined on Thursday.

Foley has named women's track and field Associate Head Coach Steve
Lemke as the interim head coach.

Complete Tom Jones bio can be found at
http://www.gatorzone.com/trackfield/wom ... jones.html

[dj]

hey

tom was a very good friend of mine.. he will be missed dearly..

one of the best of the best...

dj