Shawn Jones - Senior Deputy Athletics Director/Chief Operating Officer - Staff Directory

Staff Directory

Shawn Jones

Title:
Senior Deputy Athletics Director/Chief Operating Officer
Email:
Phone:
266-5017

Shawn Jones was hired at Southern Miss in January of 2024. In his role as Senior Deputy Athletic Director and Chief Operating Officer, Jones serves as second-in-command to Athletic Director Jeremy McClain in the overall management and direction of Southern Miss Athletics.

Jones is responsible for the day-to-day oversight of major gifts in the USM Athletic Foundation, facilities and operations, equipment operations, student-athlete academic services, compliance, strength and conditioning, sports medicine and sports counseling and performance. With his vast experience, including ten years as athletic director, he provides department wide leadership and decision making as the Chief Operating Officer.

He serves in a wide-ranging number of roles within Golden Eagle athletics, including as a lead department fundraiser for major gifts, oversight of major gifts staff and raising funds for key initiatives such as revenue sharing.

As COO, he works in budget planning, budget management and strategic allocation of resources in the rapidly changing intercollegiate athletic environment. He also serves as athletic department liaison on numerous campus wide committees and represents the department as called upon by McClain.

Jones is sport administrator for football, men’s basketball, women’s golf and men’s golf. Known for making successful hires throughout his career, he served on the two-person search committee with AD Jeremy McClain in 2024 to hire head football coach Charles Huff. Additionally, he was on the two-person search committee in 2024 that hired head women’s golf coach Colton Cowan. The Golden Eagles captured the program’s first-ever Sun Belt Conference Championship and qualified for the first NCAA Tournament appearance in Southern Miss women's golf history in his first season. In the spring of 2025, he worked on the three-person search committee in hiring head women’s basketball coach Missy Bilderback.

Jones came to Southern Miss from Henderson State University where he served as Director of Athletics from 2014 through 2023. In 2025, he was selected for enshrinement into the Henderson State Athletics Hall of Honor. Jones was the recipient of the Distinguished Service Award and was recognized as “one of the most influential figures in the history of Henderson State Athletics”. As Henderson State’s Director of Athletics, Jones worked extensively to provide HSU student-athletes with all the tools necessary to become champions on and off the various fields of play. His teams captured 15 Great American Conference championships, 24 NCAA team appearances, NCAA regional championships in baseball and women's golf, two Top-10 finishes in women’s golf at the national championships, a Top-10 national finish for men's swimming and diving, three individual national titles in swimming and Henderson’s first-ever NCAA football playoff victory.

With Jones' commitment to creating competitive success across the board, four of those titles — baseball, softball, women's golf, and men's golf — were the first for their respective programs in the NCAA era, and one — men's basketball — was the first championship for the school in 17 years. Henderson State is the only school in the GAC that has won league championships in football, men's basketball and baseball — all of which occurred in Jones' tenure.

Aside from the success on the field, enormous progress was made by student-athletes in the classroom. Henderson’s overall departmental grade point average of its student-athletes improved tremendously under Jones. The departmental GPA, which encompassed all of HSU's athletic teams and 400-plus student-athletes, was 3.0 or better for each of the last 14 semesters under Jones' watch, which included a school record departmental GPA of 3.33 in the spring of 2020. More than 500 student-athletes earned Academic All-GAC recognition with 35 achieving Academic All-American honors during Jones' time at HSU.

Eleven of the 14 athletic programs at Henderson State were led by a head coach hired by Jones when he left to accept his current role at Southern Miss . Of Jones' hires, men's basketball coach Jimmy Elgas won a conference championship, head volleyball coach Phil McDaniel played for two league titles, swimming and diving head coach Scotty Serio coached a three-time national champion and secured a Top-10 team finish at NCAA Nationals, and head golf coach Colton Cowan won four GAC titles and an NCAA Regional Championship. His most recent hires were Serio, Cowan and tennis and cross country coach Annabel Harvey, who were all brought to Henderson in the summer of 2021. All three were named conference Coach of the Year less than two years later in the spring of 2023.

In addition to leading HSU through their most successful period of the NCAA-era, Jones has orchestrated the most extensive athletic facilities improvements in school history. In total, these projects combine for over $10 million worth of renovation and expansion that took place during his tenure.

Jones raised $600,000 in private funds to install a new turf football field at Carpenter-Haygood Stadium in the spring of 2022. In 2020, Jones secured a lead gift of $1,250,000 to construct the Charles and Anita Cabe Student-Athlete Success Center. This transformational academic resource provides Henderson student-athletes with a 4,230 square foot facility that features a computer lab, classroom, group study area and private study carrels. Additionally, a 1,500 square foot weight room expansion and complete renovation of the existing weight room space has given the Reddies a modern and state of the art strength training area. The Charles and Anita Cabe Student-Athlete Success Center was officially opened for use on April 8, 2021.

Other improvements under Jones’ tenure at HSU included complete renovations to the baseball and softball facilities to include turf, lights, parking and more, as well as securing the lead gift and overseeing construction of the Ken Duke Golf Center, a state of the art indoor practice facility for the Reddie golf programs. Other work included locker room renovations for HSU swimming and diving, resurfacing of the school’s tennis courts, along with a revamping of the school’s natatorium.

New lighting and the addition of an artificial surface to the football practice field also occurred under Jones’ leadership.

Several additional facility improvements took place during his tenure as Director of Athletics. Jones was instrumental in obtaining all new equipment for the Formby Athletic Center weight room in 2014. In 2020-21, Jones raised the funds to expand and upgrade the weight facility once again with new equipment, flooring and a 1,500 square foot expansion, giving the Reddies an outstanding training venue. Also, Don Dyer Court in Wells Gymnasium was resurfaced and received a new floor design.

The Reddie Club, HSU’s athletic booster program, more than tripled its membership during his tenure, establishing new fundraising records over a seven-year period.

During Jones' tenure, Henderson State saw its relevance on the national DII landscape increase in a dramatic way. In 2022, Henderson was recognized as a national finalist for the NCAA Division II Award of Excellence for its Military and First Responders Appreciation Day on Sept. 11, 2021. The award recognized initiatives in the past year that exemplified the Division II philosophy, community engagement and student-athlete leadership. In June of 2015, Henderson was awarded with the NACMA “Best of Awards” - Gold level in NCAA Division II for its student promotion of the nationally televised home opener for Reddies football in 2014 that aired on the CBS Sports Television Network. Additionally, Jones led a brand enhancement at HSU in the summer of 2015 which updated the iconic H-Reddies logo and other marks for the first time in 16 years.

The 50-year-old native of Moberly, Missouri also added assistant coaching positions in baseball, football, softball, swimming and diving, and volleyball. In 2018, cheer and pom squads were added to the athletic department. In total, the number of student-athletes at Henderson increased by 56% during Jones' tenure.

Utilizing his sports broadcasting background, Jones made significant improvements to the Reddies’ presence on radio by entering into a partnership with Southwest Arkansas Media to carry the Henderson State Sports Network on multiple stations in the region. In addition, Jones secured a Little Rock affiliate for football with the addition of 920 AM The Sports Animal.

Jones was active on the national and conference scene, serving as a member of the D2 Athletic Directors Association Board of Directors, the NCAA Division II/Athletic Directors Association Regulatory Advisory Group, the NCAA Division II Regionalization Task Force, and the NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Regional Advisory Committee. He also served a two-year term as Chair of the Great American Conference Council of Athletic Administrators.

Jones came to Henderson from the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg, Missouri, where he served 13 years in the athletics department. Most recently, Jones served as the senior associate athletic director for external operations. He earned a bachelor's degree in organizational communication from the University of Central Missouri in 1997 and a master's degree in physical education/exercise and sport science with a specialization in athletic and sports business administration in 2011.

Originally hired by UCM in 2000 as Manager of Athletic Marketing/Broadcasting, Jones served as the Assistant A.D. for Marketing and Broadcasting from 2003 to 2005. He then spent six years as Associate Athletic Director for External Operations before being elevated to Senior Associate Athletic Director for External Operations in 2011.

Jones served as the Voice of UCM Athletics and was the host and coordinating producer of UCM’s weekly one-hour television show, Central Missouri Sportspage. A member of the National Association of Collegiate Marketing Directors, Jones began UCM’s highly successful corporate sponsor program. He played a major role in the success of UCM’s biggest fund-raising event, the Celebrating Central Missouri Athletic Auction, which raised over $1.4 million in net profits for UCM Athletics in his 12-year association with the event.

In 2012, UCM was honored as both the NCAA Division II and MIAA Game Environment Award winner for promotional and community engagement efforts surrounding the football home opener. Jones also holds membership in the International Collegiate Licensing Association and nearly doubled licensing royalty revenues for UCM during his time in charge of the program.

Jones served a four-year term on the NCAA Division II Football Committee, as the co-chair of Super Regional Four. He was twice elected to serve as National Chair, serving in that role from Sept. 1, 2009, to Sept. 1, 2011, the longest allowable tenure under NCAA regulations. Jones was one of the youngest chairs in NCAA Division II football history.

In January of 2009, Jones served as a featured panelist at the NCAA Convention in Washington, D.C., speaking on the topic of “Building Relationships and Telling Stories: Engaging the Local Media.” In January of 2010, in Atlanta, Georgia, Jones once again served as a panelist at the NCAA Convention, speaking on the topic of “Fans: How to Find and Keep Them.”

Prior to his time at UCM, Jones worked for ESPN Regional in the University of Kansas Athletics Department. He served on the broadcast team for Jayhawk Baseball. As an Account Executive for ESPN Regional, he sold sponsorships for KU Athletics on the Jayhawk Radio and Television Networks. Jones also provided radio play-by-play for UMKC women’s basketball during the 1999 season.

In 1998, Jones was Business Development Manager for the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, where he created new revenue streams for the 20,000-member organization.

While a student, he worked at KOKO Radio in Warrensburg as assistant sports director covering Warrensburg High School and UCM sports. He also worked as a student assistant in the sports information office.

Jones and his wife Jessica were married in August of 2017. Together they have four children, Kirby, Lauren, Whit, and Hayden.