Ja'Nell Jones was the director of operations for the Youngstown State women's basketball program during the 2014-15 season.
Jones came to Youngstown after spending the 2013-14 season as the assistant coach at Division II Saint Joseph's College in Northwest Indiana. Previously, she spent two seasons as a graduate assistant coach at Drury University, her alma mater.
Jones served as the program's coordinator for travel, academics and the annual golf outing. She was also in charge of film exchange and oversaw the program's community service efforts and office operations.
Jones had an outstanding career as a student-athlete at Drury. She was named the Great Lakes Valley Conference Scholar Athlete of the Year for Women's Basketball as well as first-team all-conference and second-team all-region as a senior in 2010-11. That year she ranked 38th in the country with 4.6 assists per game, and her 15.8 points per game ranked sixth in the GLVC. She set the school's single-season assists record of 167 as a junior when she ranked sixth in the country in assists per game. She finished her career ranking third all-time at Drury in assists (434), sixth in steals (157), 10th in points (1,056) and 13th in rebounds (317).
Drury compiled a 95-31 record during Jones' playing career, and the Panthers were 34-21 in her two seasons as a graduate assistant.
In her lone year at Saint Joseph's College, Jones helped head coach Steve Harold in all facets of the program, including player development and recruiting. The Pumas increased their scoring average by 13.7 points per game and improved their scoring margin by 10.9 points in 2013-14. Harold was the head coach at Drury during Jones' career as a student-athlete and graduate assistant. Current YSU assistant coach John Nicolais was an assistant coach at Drury during Jones' final three years as a player and her two years as a graduate assistant.
Jones, a native of Chesterfield, Va., earned a bachelor's degree in advertising and a master's in human services from Drury.
