Ronnie Jones enters his third year as West Texas A&M's head football coach. Last season, Jones went 3-8, as he continues to rebuild the program.

"I am very honored to be in this position," Jones said. "This is a special job for me. It's a dream come true. I grew up watching the Buffaloes during the Kerbel era, and the opportunity to come home is special."

Jones has 26 years of coaching experience at the NCAA Division I level and in the National Football League.

He has been a part of seven collegiate conference championships, one Rose Bowl championship and two National Football League division titles. He has coached teams that have made four NFL playoff appearances.

Jones came to WTAMU from Ottawa University, Kan., where he coached the team to a 6-4 record in 2001.

Before Ottawa, Jones spent the 1999 and 2000 seasons with the Buffalo Bills as special teams coordinator under head coach Wade Phillips, the father of current WTAMU quarterbacks coach Wes Phillips.

From 1996-99 he worked at the University of Texas at El Paso under head coach Charlie Bailey, spending the last two years as defensive coordinator and assistant head coach.

Jones was in the NFL from 1987 through 1995. He coached under Buddy Ryan with the Arizona Cardinals in 1994 and 1995, with the AFC Central Division champion Houston Oilers in 1993 and with the Philadelphia Eagles from 1987-90. He also was on the staff of the Los Angeles Rams in 1991 and the Los Angeles Raiders in 1992.

His duties included being defensive coordinator and secondary coach in Arizona for a team that ranked first in the league in eight defensive categories, and working with the linebackers in the other positions. He was also the strength and conditioning coordinator with the Eagles, who were the NFC East Division champions and made the playoffs for three seasons.

Jones' collegiate coaching career began at Northeastern State University from 1979 to 1983. He then joined head coach John Cooper at the University of Tulsa in 1984, and remained with Cooper at Arizona State University in 1985 and 1986. Arizona State claimed a Rose Bowl championship, and Jones was part of conference championship teams with ASU and Tulsa.

A native of Sunray, Texas, Jones received a bachelor's degree from Northwestern Oklahoma State University and a master's degree from Northeastern State University, Okla. His wife, Karla, is also a native of Sunray.

"I think Coach Jones is the person to take our football program to the next level," WTAMU President Dr. Russell Long said. "We want a winner, and I think he's the one to get it done."

"We've set our goals high, and we are going to work," Jones said about the progress of the WT program. "We can't talk ourselves into a national championship. It doesn't happen that way. You do it through hard work, commitment and investment of time, energy and sweat. That's how we planned to do it coming in and that's the plan that we are sticking with."

Over his career Jones has collected quite a few distinguished professional honors, including being inducted into Northwestern Oklahoma State's Athletic Hall of Fame.

Jones and his wife, Karla, who works in the WTAMU Office of Admissions, reside in Amarillo.