Dale Jones returned to App State as defensive coordinator/inside linebackers coach on head coach Shawn Clark's first staff in January 2020 and in 2022 completed his 26th season as an assistant coach for the Mountaineers.
He was part of 237 wins as an App State coach. In Jones' final year, Florida State's Odell Haggins was the only active FBS assistant with more years at the same program.
In his eight FBS seasons as a defensive coach at App State, the Mountaineers had 50 games allowing 17 points or less and 24 games allowing single-digit points.
Jones helped the Mountaineers lead the Sun Belt in scoring defense in 2020, and his 25th season in Boone occurred in 2021, when App State entered the bowl season among the national leaders in tackles for loss (No. 2, 8.2 per game), scoring defense (No. 16, 19.3 points), total defense (No. 18, 325.5 yards), pass efficiency defense (No. 12, 114.7), interceptions (No. 10, 15), defensive touchdowns (No. 6, four), red zone defense (No. 15, 73.7 percent) and rushing defense (No. 19, 118.8).
App State led the league in rushing defense (122.1 yards per game), had a cornerback named a first-team All-American for the second straight year (Steven Jones Jr. followed Shemar Jean-Charles) and produced the Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Year in linebacker D’Marco Jackson, who also received All-America recognition.
Sixteen players that Jones has coached at App State have gone on to play in the National Football League.
Jones coached at App State for 23 seasons from 1996-2018 before following head coach Scott Satterfield to Louisville, where the Cardinals completed an 8-5 season with a victory against Mississippi State in the Music City Bowl. Counting a 9-3 season in 2020 and the 10-4 season in 2021, he’s been part of 231 victories at App State as an assistant coach for the Mountaineers.
As a unit, App State in 2020 ranked No. 16 nationally in scoring defense (20.0 points) and 17th in total defense (328.8 yards per game).
The Mountaineers led the nation in 2020 by allowing opponents to complete only 48.0 percent of their passes — the only team under 50 percent — and Jean-Charles was named an All-American. The team’s two starters at inside linebacker — Jackson and Trey Cobb — shared the team lead with 91 tackles apiece.
Jones' creative scheming helped the versatile Jackson become the only FBS player with at least 90 tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks, two interceptions and eight passes defended (he had six PBUs) in 2020.
Jones, who coached Louisville’s inside linebackers in 2019, worked with the same position group with the Mountaineers from 2014-18. He coached the inside linebackers and served as co-defensive coordinator in 2018, when an App State team that went 11-2 ranked among the FBS leaders in scoring defense (No. 4, 15.5 points) and total defense (No. 6, 288.0 yards). Inside linebackers Jordan Fehr and Anthony Flory were first- and second-team All-Sun Belt performers, respectively.
During the coaching transition, Jones served as the Mountaineers’ defensive coordinator for a 45-13 win in the 2018 R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl against Middle Tennessee, which committed two turnovers, was sacked six times and was held to 62 rushing yards on 45 carries.
Jones came to Boone in 1996. He served as the team's defensive line coach and special teams coordinator for his first nine seasons with the program (1996-2004). In 2005, he began an eight-year stint as the Mountaineers' linebackers coach and was also the program's defensive coordinator for three seasons (2010-12). He once again directed App State's defensive line in 2013 before taking over the inside linebackers in 2014.
Jones coached 2017 senior Eric Boggs, an all-conference performer who led the team in tackles for three straight years.
Player development has been a staple of Jones' tenure at App State. During his first 25 seasons at App State, he coached 12 All-America defensive linemen and linebackers, including five two-time honorees. He also mentored 24 all-conference performers who earned the recognition a total of 39 times while four of his pupils — Josh Jeffries (2002), K.T. Stovall (2003), Jacque Roman (2008) and Jeremy Kimbrough (2012) — were named the Southern Conference's Defensive Player of the Year and one more (Jackson) was named Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Year.
During Jones' previous three-year tenure as the team's defensive coordinator, the Mountaineers led the SoCon in interceptions twice (2011 and 2012) and also topped the league in sacks (2011), red-zone defense (2011) and third-down conversion defense (2010). While serving as special teams coordinator, Jones was named the 2002 Special Teams Coordinator of the Year by American Football Monthly.
One of the most popular and decorated players in University of Tennessee history, Jones was an All-American and a two-time All-SEC performer as a linebacker for the Vols from 1983-86. He is best known as the defensive leader of UT's 1985 squad, which won the SEC championship and stunned No. 2 Miami by a 35-7 score in the 1986 Sugar Bowl. Jones' fourth-quarter interception of Alabama's Mike Shula to seal the Vols' 16-14 win over the Crimson Tide remains one of the most memorable moments of Tennessee's run to the 1985 SEC title.
Jones graduated from UT in 1988 and began his coaching career as an assistant under legendary head coach Johnny Majors at his alma mater in 1989. He went on to serve one-year stints with the Parma Panthers of the Italian American Football League (1990) and the University of Florida (1991) before a five-year tenure at Georgia Military College, where he served as defensive coordinator for four seasons.
Jones and his wife, Heather, have two children: a daughter, Brooke, and a son, Cooper.
JONES AT A GLANCE
Coaching Experience
1989: Tennessee (Defensive Assistant)
1990: Parma Panthers (Defensive Coordinator)
1991: Florida (Defensive Assistant)
1991: Georgia Military (Linebackers and Defensive Backs)
1992-95: Georgia Military (Defensive Coordinator/LBs and DBs)
1996-2004: App State (Defensive Line/Special Teams)
2005-09: App State (Linebackers)
2010-12: App State (Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers)
2013: App State (Defensive Line)
2014-17: App State (Inside Linebackers)
2018: App State (Co-Defensive Coordinator/Inside Linebackers)
2019: Louisville (Inside Linebackers)
2020-22: App State (Defensive Coordinator)
Playing Experience
1983-86: Tennessee (Linebacker)
Alma Mater: Tennessee, 1988
Hometown: Cleveland, Tenn.
Birthdate: March 8, 1963
Wife: Heather
Daughter: Brooke
Son: Cooper
Twitter: @DaleJones54
