In 21 years as the head baseball coach at Tulane, Rick Jones became one of the most decorated collegiate baseball coaches. Jones, who retired in 2014, left Tulane as the program's longest tenured coach, as well as its winningest coach. He compiled a record of 818-445-2 (.647), guiding the Green Wave to 12 NCAA Div. I Regional appearances, two NCAA Div. I Super Regional appearances and the program's only two appearances in the College World Series in 2001 and 2005.
In 2020, Tulane honored Jones by retiring his No. 10 jersey number.
For his career, Jones boasts an overall head-coaching record of 1,094-538-3 (.669). He also made head-coaching stops at Ferrum (1982-84), where he compiled a record of 102-32-1 (.756), and Elon (1985-89), where he led the program to a 174-61 (.740) record and made three NAIA Tournament appearances in five years. Jones went to Tulane after serving as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Georgia Tech from 1990-93 under head coach Jim Morris, where the Yellow Jackets had at least 42 wins and went to the NCAA Tournament in all four seasons that Jones was a member of the coaching staff.
Jones's resume is filled with accomplishments. The 2005 Baseball America National Coach of the Year was also a three-time Conference USA Coach of the Year (1997, 2001 and 2005) and owns more wins in the league than any other head coach. Ten of his Tulane teams posted 40 or more victories, and his squads averaged 40 wins a season during his 20 full years at the helm of the program.
Jones was appointed the head coach of the 2009 United States Collegiate National Team, guiding the Red, White and Blue to victory in the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline World Baseball Challenge that year.
Many of Jones's players had tremendous success during his tenure as head coach, as 61 Green Wave players earned All-Conference honors from C-USA and the Metro Conference on 89 different occasions, including 54 first-team selections. Twenty-eight players earned All-Freshman honors as well. Nationally, 22 of Jones' players received All-American recognition - including at least one every season from 1996-2006. Seventeen of his players were named Freshman All-Americans, and five went on to play for the USA Baseball National Team.
Professionally, Major League Baseball teams spent 54 draft picks on Tulane players from 1994-2014, including five first-round selections. A total of 76 of Jones's Tulane players signed professional contracts. Many of Jones's former players and assistant coaches went on to become collegiate head coaches.
Off the field, Tulane baseball produced unprecedented success in the classroom, as over 200 of his players earned C-USA Commissioner's Academic Honor Roll recognition. Six of those players earned CoSIDA Academic All-American status. Every player who played four years for Jones completed his degree.
