New Mexico Highlands University has named Steve Jones its head baseball coach, marking a return to the program for Coach Jones. He led the Highlands baseball squad for 17 years and was inducted into the H-Club Hall of Honor in 2019.
Jones’s NMHU teams qualified for the RMAC conference tournament 15 times and qualified for NCAA Division 2 Regionals six times, hosting the NCAA Central Regional in 2010. Jones’s NMHU teams won two RMAC conference championships and three RMAC conference tournament championships. His teams reached the finals of the RMAC conference tournament championship game six times.
“Every time I visit Las Vegas, it feels like it is home. It’s a dream come true to return to NMHU and lead our program again,” Coach Jones said. “My heart has always been in Las Vegas and New Mexico Highlands University, and I’m ecstatic to have the opportunity to return. I want to thank the administration–President Woolf and Athletic Director Scott Noble. I appreciate that they recognize our achievements at NMHU and I look forward to pursuing those again.”
Consistency has been the theme of Coach Jones’s career, averaging over 30 wins per year in 26 years as a head coach at the Division 2 and NAIA levels. Jones has an overall record of 806 wins and 583 losses, ranking him 14th amongst active NAIA Head Coaches. His teams have qualified for the postseason in 24 of 26 years.
NMHU Athletic Director Scott Noble said, “The Athletic Department is extremely excited to see the return of Coach Jones to Cowboy Country. His success both on and off the field speaks for itself, and I have no doubt that Coach Jones will continue his winning ways at NMHU.”
Jones spent this previous spring as an assistant coach at LSU Shreveport and was a part of a collegiate record-breaking 59-0 season and an NAIA National Championship. Previously, as the Head Baseball Coach at Texas A&M University-Texarkana, his teams won 256 games over a nine-year span. The Eagles qualified for the postseason each year. In the Eagles’ inaugural season, they posted a record of 33 wins and 20 losses with trips to the Association of Independent Institutions Conference Tournament and the opening round of the NAIA National Tournament.