Tessa Jones, the first Lady Blue to earn first team All-America in school history, has returned to Washburn in the spring of 2013 as an assistant coach. The 2013 season will be her first as the top assistant and her second full season as she was a volunteer assistant after graduating in 2008.
Jones spent the previous two years as the head coach at Newman where she coached two first team all-Heartland Conference players and the school's all-time leader in kills. The Jets went 9-41 in her two years there.
“I'm excited to have a former player and a three-time All-American back with us,” Herron said. “She brings instant credibility with her history here and her two years as a head coach at Newman and two years as an assistant at Drury. I can give her a court to work with during practice and won't have to worry.”
Jones served as Drury's assistant coach and strength and conditioning coordinator during the 2009 and 2010 seasons and she helped guide Drury to its first winning season her first year there. She also worked as a volunteer assistant at Washburn her first year out of college.
Jones graduated from Washburn in 2009 with a bachelor's degree in exercise science. She earned four different All-America awards in her three years at Washburn as she was AVCA third team in 2005, AVCA honorable mention in 2006 and AVCA first team in 2007, her senior year. She also earned Daktronics second team honor that year. Her college career began in 2004 at Kansas as a freshman.
Jones is fifth in school history with 1,511 kills and her 657 kills in 2007 broke a school single-season record by 78 kills. She became the school's first MIAA MVP in 2007 and she was a three-time all-MIAA honoree.
