After four years as the Jackson Public Schools athletic director, Daryl Jones retired. As he closes the door on a 28-year career, Jones says he is grateful to a life full of experiences.
“The job is great,” Jones said of his role with JPS. “I like to walk away and retire when things are going great.”
Jones, 57, said he will work as a camp director for In His Steps Ministries, a Christian organization in Canton, Mississippi.
During his career, Jones has served in a variety of roles in education. He has been an assistant principal and head football coach at Jim Hill, Columbus and Callaway high schools, the athletic director and head football coach at Canton High and athletic director at Raymond High. Before taking the job at JPS, he was AD for the Hinds County School District. He also spent three seasons on the football staff at Jackson State, including a three-game stint as interim head coach.
It has been a rewarding journey for a 5-foot-8, 150-pound featured running back from Provine High School. He also played at Jackson State, where he was named All-Southwestern Athletic Conference freshman of the year in 1985.
Those teams shaped his approach to his career.
Lessons Daryl Jones learned from football
At Provine, Jones was coached by Jackson State Hall of Famer Stanley Blackmon, who believed in running the football and toughness. "We did the Jackson State workouts and ran the ball," Blackmon said. "We knew if our kids could handle that, they could handle college football and life.
Blackmon said he saw that Jones was special during those days at Provine.
"He always knew the other players' assignments in high school, "Blackmon said. "He was like a coach on the field. I thought he would make a good coach because he knew people and was a good leader."
Jones said he learned at Jackson State how to value being a member of a team. The Tigers won the SWAC championship every year (1985-88) he was in school.
Jones never started at Jackson State in the offensive backfield on a team that had running back Lewis Tillman, who would play seven years in the NFL. Tillman, a year ahead of Jones at Jackson State, said Jones helped him with his running and training.
“He is a great person,” Tillman said of Jones. "I knew he would make a great coach when we were in college. I was all about the weight room, and he showed me that I needed to run as well as be strong. He impacted my life so much, that after I retired from the NFL, I spent seven years with him at Jim Hill High School and three years at Callaway High School as his offensive coordinator."
As a coach, Jones said he taught kids they could accomplish more as a team than as an individual.
“Being an individual is not a model we want to perpetrate,” Jones said. “At the high school level, if you start allowing individualism, you will never develop them as a complete player. Kids will never understand the team concept of working together to accomplish the goal. We celebrated everything and everyone as a team.”
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Following in father’s footsteps
Jones said he wanted to become a coach after seeing his father, Cardell Jones, coaching and how he would treat people with respect. Daryl Jones said the most important lessons learned from watching his father, though, were in his roles as a father and husband.
“My dad was a quality man,” Daryl said. “My dad was a good example to me. I saw him model good behavior of what a Black man should be, and how he took care of his wife and family.”
Daryl Jones' mother, Mable Jones, was diagnosed with breast cancer when he was 7 years old. Jones said she never felt sorry for herself, and ran the household from her hospital bed at home when she had to. She lived until his senior year in college,
"My dad taught me how to fight through adversity every day," Jones said. "He was dedicated to coaching and his family."
Coaching's greatest lesson for Daryl Jones
Jones said his most memorable season as a coach was in 2013, when his Callaway team went 14-1 and won the Region 2-5A championship before finishing as the 5-A North State runner-up.
After the Chargers' final game, Jones said he found offensive lineman Rod Taylor outside the locker room crying. Taylor told Jones he was upset not over the loss but because the team would not be together any more.
“That helped me to understand we had the right focus,” Jones said. “Those guys loved each other, and the ride was over. Not that we lost the game, but the game would never be pure again, especially for the seniors.”
J.T. Keith is the HBCU sports editor for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at JKeith@gannett.com or reach him on Twitter @JTKEITH1.
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