Howard College, one of many nation’s most storied HBCUs, continues to construct on its legacy of excellence with the addition of Montel Jones to the ladies’s basketball teaching workers. Jones formally joined this system as an assistant coach in June 2025, bringing a confirmed observe report of success and management inside HBCU athletics.
HBCU Teaching Expertise Anchors Jones’ Resume
Earlier than arriving at Howard, Jones served two impactful seasons as an assistant coach at Tuskegee College, a fellow HBCU with a wealthy basketball custom. Throughout the 2024–25 season, Jones helped information Tuskegee to a formidable 20-10 total report and a 14-5 mark in SIAC play, culminating in a berth within the convention championship sport. His first season (2023–24) laid the inspiration for achievement, with the workforce ending 15-10 total and 11-8 within the convention.
“I’m really honored and excited to hitch this successful program—one which upholds an ordinary of excellence each on and off the courtroom,” mentioned Jones. “Coach Grace and the complete workers have been extremely useful and welcoming all through this transition. The workforce is full of proficient, high-character student-athletes who’re able to compete at a championship degree. I’m particularly grateful to Coach Grace for providing me this once-in-a-lifetime alternative to be a part of such a prestigious establishment.”
Deep Roots in HBCU Circles
Jones’ teaching résumé additionally consists of main the ladies’s basketball program at Saint Augustine’s College (SAU) from 2018 to 2020, one other well-regarded HBCU within the CIAA. Beneath his management, the Woman Falcons improved dramatically—on the courtroom and within the classroom. SAU gained the CIAA Highest GPA Award for ladies’s basketball in 2018–19, and that very same season the workforce defeated rival Shaw College on the highway for the primary time in over a decade.
By his second 12 months, Jones engineered a seven-game enchancment, together with sweeping Shaw for the primary time for the reason that 2008–09 season. His defensive emphasis paid off, with SAU forcing 21.8 turnovers per sport—rating sixteenth nationally in NCAA Division II.
From Kinston to Howard College
A local of Kinston, North Carolina—a city famed for producing basketball expertise—Jones started his teaching journey after a collegiate taking part in profession on the College of Mount Olive. There, he was a part of a historic workforce that made the varsity’s first-ever Elite Eight look in 2005 and tallied 101 wins over 4 years. He later earned a grasp’s diploma from Wingate College and accomplished a Doctorate in Sport Administration from Nationwide College in 2024.
Jones additionally held teaching positions on the boys’s basketball staffs at Wingate and Mount Olive, the place he contributed to a number of convention titles and NCAA event appearances. He later introduced that successful mentality to HBCU applications Virginia State College (VSU) and SAU.
Howard’s Continued Funding in Excellence
The appointment of Montel Jones is the most recent signal that Howard College is dedicated to elevating its ladies’s basketball program and investing in top-tier teaching expertise with robust HBCU ties. His breadth of expertise throughout a number of ranges of faculty basketball and throughout the HBCU ecosystem positions him as a key determine within the Bison’s pursuit of MEAC titles and postseason success.
As Howard continues to jot down its subsequent chapter in ladies’s hoops, the addition of Jones brings seasoned management and a strong message: excellence lives at HBCUs, and Howard is on the forefront.
