Sparta’s new head football coach will bring high school, collegiate and professional coaching experience to the table when he arrives at the school in December.
Edmund Jones was hired by the Sparta school board Monday night as head high school football coach and physical education teacher at Lincoln and the high school. Jones will take over for the late Phil Watson.
“I am excited to be coming to Sparta,” said Jones. “This is a tremendous opportunity for me. I am very impressed with the people I have spoken to at Sparta, and I am ready to get there and get rolling.”
Jones coached this season at Princeton High School in Indiana and worked the year before with Mike Jones at Hazelwood East near St. Louis. Mike Jones is famous for “the tackle” in Super Bowl XXXIV for the St. Louis Rams. He stopped a possible touchdown at the one-yard line, preserving a 23–16 victory over the Tennessee Titans.
Before his time at Hazelwood, Edmund Jones spent two seasons as a secondary coach at Indiana State University.
Jones came to Indiana State from Dayton, Ohio, where he worked for the Downtown YMCA as a site administrator and teacher for the before and after school programs. During this time, he also was an assistant football coach at Trotwood-Madison High School in Ohio, where his team finished 7-4 in 2006 and advanced to the Division II Ohio state playoffs.
Jones also spent time as an assistant football coach at Washington University in Missouri in 2005. In 2003, he was the cornerbacks coach at San Jose State University.
From 2000-2003, Jones worked as the defensive backs and tight ends coach at Eastern Illinois.
In between stints at Eastern Illinois, Jones was the defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach for the Toronto Phantoms of the Arena Football League.
Prior to working with the Phantoms, Jones was the defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach of the New England Sea Wolves, also of the AFL.
During the 1999 campaign, Jones worked as the outside linebackers coach of American International College, helping that program post a school-best 10-2 record and led the nation in forced turnovers as well as turnover margin.
In 1998, Jones was the wide receivers coach at Western Illinois University, when the Leathernecks finished with an 11-3 record, won the Gateway and advanced to the semifinals of the NCAA 1A Playoffs.
Jones has also spent time at Althoff Catholic High School, the St. Louis Rams and the St. Louis Stampede.
In 1995, Jones was the head football coach at East St. Louis High School, where he led the team to a 9-2 record and the South West Conference championship as well as a berth into the IHSA Class 5A semifinals.
In 1994, Jones was the defensive backs coach at Central State University, where they compiled a 9-2 record and advanced to the NAIA Playoffs.
Jones received his bachelor’s degree in political science from Central State in 1987 and his master's degree in physical education from Western Illinois in 2004.
While Jones has an extensive football coaching resume, he prides himself on being an educator first.
“The student in student-athlete comes first,” said Jones. “The game of football can be used as a vehicle to better one’s self and better one’s community. I am all about using the carrot of football to put in front of a young man to help him with his academic endeavors and better his social skills. My biggest advantage as a coach is my ties with universities. I am excited to get underway as soon as possible (at Sparta), and I am looking forward to a new challenge.”