Coach Jones is in his 21th year of coaching. His high school coaching career began at Temple High School. From there, Coach Jones moved to La Marque High School. He spent four years, as the Lady Marauder Basketball Head Coach; 4 years, as the Aledo Boys Basketball Head Coach, and the last 4 years as the Southwest Christian Boys Head Coach. *Coach Jones has been involved in select AAU Basketball in the Dallas/FW area for over 15 years. As a kingdom coach, his passion is in building programs, creating culture and overall team development. He has been involved in individual training in the area with several NBA level trainers - Chris L. Johnson (Jushoop.com), Tyler Relph, Max Reese - to name a few. He takes great delight in offering a full service basketball player development program where all needs can be met to propel athletes to the next level.* In his four years as head coach of the Lady Marauders, Coach Jones has an overall record of 103-35. In 2011-2012, they were Bi-District Champions (23-12), and lost to eventual state champion Duncanville in the area round. In 2012-2013, the team compiled a record of 30-8 and reached the regional tournament for the first time in 15 years. Also, the Lady Marauders made school history by posting the most wins ever (30) and the best points allowed defense (37.3) ever. In 2013-2014, the team recorded 29 wins with three losses and reached the regional quarterfinals. Defensively, they allowed 34.7 points per game; improving on the previous years’ record. They, also, compiled an undefeated district record to be District 6-5A Champs. Coach Jones was recognized as District Coach of the Year. Prior to becoming the head coach of the Lady Marauder program, Coach Jones was a part of the Marcus boys program where the teams compiled a record of 181 wins and 55 losses. Overall, with Marcus HS, he has been a part of seven district championships, eight Bi-District Championships, five Area Championships, Four Regional Tournaments, and four state appearances. Coach Jones has been a part of six state championships . In 2006, at La Marque High School, as running backs coach, he won the class 4A football state championship with the La Marque Cougars. In 2010, he was a member of the staff that led the Marauders (37-3) to the school’s first ever trip to the Final Four in Austin, losing in overtime to the state champions. The following year, 2011, the team returned to the State Final Four with a 39-1 record. This time the Marauders won the title for the first time in school history, and the team was recognized as the #1 team in nation according to Max Preps. In 2012, Coach Jones was asked to return to the Marauder bench during the Final Four, as a complimentary coach, to assist the team as they won the State championship again. This year (2020), Coach Jones has been a coach of 3 straight Southwest Christian Girls TAPPS Cross Country State Championships. Before coming to Southwest Christian School, Coach Jones was the head coach for the Aledo Boys Basketball Team. He led the Bearcats to the 5A State Playoffs for the first time in its’ 5A history and the third time in school history. Coach Jones holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Marketing from Texas Tech University. He, also, has completed over 2 semesters of education with Sunset School of Preaching while serving as a youth minister at Avenue T in Temple, TX. He earned his teaching certification from McClennan Community College in Special Education, Physical Education, and as a Core Teacher for Grades 4-8. Mr. Jones and his wife, Natasha, have been married 8 years and have 6 daughters and 6 grandchildren. They are members and serve at the Potter’s House in Fort Worth, TX. “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.” (Frederick Douglass)

Vanessa was born in Lubbock, TX & raised in Temple, TX. She moved to the Dallas area in 2006. She played basketball and attended Flower Mound Marcus HS from 2010-2014. She was a four year varsity starter and received numerous awards from the district throughout her tenure. Freshman season, she earned Newcomer of the Year honors and was 1st Team All District. Sophomore season, she was the district’s Defensive Player of the Year and 1st Team All District. Junior season, she was the 2013 District 5-5A Offensive Player of the Year and 1st Team All District. Senior year, she was 1st Team All District, leading the district in three pointers made. During her HS AAU season, her AAU squad (North Texas Shockers) were 2012 National Champions. Vanessa went on to play basketball for two years at San Jacinto College in Houston. Her freshman year, she averaged 10.9 points a game and led the NJCAA in assist to turnover ratio. Her sophomore year, she was the team’s leading scorer, averaging 13.9 points a game and led the NJCAA in FT percentage at 95.9%. It was then that she was introduced to coaching. Coaching youth sports at the YMCA and assistant coaching Higher Goals teams with her father in the summer. Vanessa finished her collegiate basketball career at Angelo State University and officially began head coaching AAU basketball in 2017. Initially coaching for Texas Express, Vanessa began coaching with Higher Goals in 2018. She’s coached both boys & girls youth basketball. In 2018, Vanessa began sharing her knowledge of the game through skill development training. She has experience training players of all ages, genders and skill levels (elementary, middle school, high school and collegiate). In 2020, she began her Girls’ Varsity Head Coach position at Christian Life Preparatory School. Following CLPS, she began her work as a recruiting analyst for Full Throttle Basketball in 2021. She traveled throughout the metroplex, researching players, writing articles and interviewing HS standout players in the DFW area. She was responsible for submitting player profiles that went out to college coaches at tournaments and events. From 2022 to present, she continued on coaching with Higher Goals as the organization joined the Select 40 circuit, featuring the top 40 independent programs in the nation. In 2023, she began coaching middle school basketball for Trinity Christian Academy in Addison. Currently, she still coaches for both Higher Goals and Trinity Christian Academy, remains a skill development trainer and works as an administrative assistant for a physical rehabilitation center in Garland. She is a player’s coach and prides herself on building player’s confidence. She loves the game and refuses to take the game of basketball for granted. Make moves or make excuses.

Alexus Jones started her career playing for the Flower Mound Marcus Marauders from her freshman to junior year where she was awarded First Team All District and All District Academic. For her senior year, Alexus attended Aledo High School where she placed the new all-time school record for highest free throw percentage at 80% from the line, as well as most charges taken in a single season. Her senior year, she also was unanimously chosen for District 8-5A MVP, TABC All-Region, and All-State. At Aledo, she averaged 15.7 ppg with 49% from the field goal. Once graduating from Aledo HS in 2016, Alexus received a full scholarship to San Jacinto Junior College. Alexus was a two-year starting guard at San Jacinto. Over the course of her 2 year tenure at San Jacinto College, Alexus became the first San Jacinto Women’s basketball team to make it that far in the NJCAA national tournament, becoming conference/divisional champions. Jones was second on the team in scoring at 13.7 points per game and led the team in free throw shooting at 77.2 percent. She was an all-conference honorable mention selection & first-team all conference during her tenure. After San Jacinto, Alexus started a basketball career and education at Texas A&M University – Commerce, a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) DII institution where she was again a two-year starter. Jones played in 57 games in her two-year Lion career, playing 1,251 minutes... Scored 434 career points with 122 career rebounds, 87 assists and 56 steals. She finished her career ranked second in program history in free throw percentage (83.6%) and was a 2019-20 All-Conference selection. Alexus was a member of the 2019-20 LSC Divisional Championship team and a member of two NCAA Tournament teams. At Texas A&M University-Commerce guard Alexus Jones was named the Lone Star Conference women's basketball Defensive Player of the Week as well as the Under Armor Student-Athlete of the Week by Lion Athletics. Since graduating from Texas A&M Commerce in 2020, Alexus has been teaching youth basketball to young boys and girls ranging from 7 year olds to 18 year olds. She began her coaching career as soon as graduation and has continued her journey since then. “Coaches who love coaching, teach players to love learning”