Alum Butch Jones Returns To Campus
Story by Sandy Gholston
BIG RAPIDS - Tuesday (March 23), one of Ferris State
University's favorite sons and most famous alums returned
to campus for the first time in more than a decade.
Butch Jones, a 1990 graduate of Ferris, returned
to Big Rapids to speak to students in the College of Business as
well as faculty and administrative staff delivering powerful
messages of personal responsibility, hard work, being progressive
and refusing to settle for anything but the best. Jones, who on
Dec. 16, 2009 was named the head football coach at the University
of Cincinnati, has come a long way since his days in the late 1980s
as an undergraduate at Ferris, as a Bulldog football player and
assistant coach.
Returning to campus, for the first time in more than 12 years,
tripped a flood of emotions for Jones who also stopped in nearby
Mount Pleasant, at Central Michigan University, where he served as
head coach prior to taking the job at Cincinnati.
"It feels great to be back and you have so have so many fond
memories of this place and the opportunities that it presented for
me from an educational standpoint, a personal standpoint and a
growth standpoint," said Jones, whose return to Ferris was led
largely by the efforts of Stacey Issette, an
advancement officer in the College of Business, who knows Jones
from their days as undergraduates at FSU. "Ferris established a lot
of foundations for me and for my family in general."
The Small Town Kid From Saugatuck Starts From
Scratch
Jones, 42, was a two-year football letterwinner at Ferris before a
knee injury prematurely ended his playing career. While still
working on his undergraduate education, Jones had an opportunity to
break in as an intern for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National
Football League (1987-89) and enjoyed the kind of experience that
is second to none. After graduation, Jones got a position as an as
an assistant coach at Rutgers University and two years later he
became offensive coordinator at Division III Wilkes University
(where the team advanced to the playoffs).
Jones returned to his alma mater in 1995 and became offensive
coordinator for three seasons (under current FSU head coach
Jeff Pierce) on Bulldog teams that won conference
titles and made runs in the NCAA Tournament.
"It was a great opportunity at a relatively young age to be a part
of some great championship football teams and some great memories
and better than that some relationships that have lasted this long
and will continue to last a lifetime," said Jones, a family man who
along with his wife, Barbara, has three sons (Alex, Adam and
Andrew).
Moving Back Up To The Division I Level
From 1998-2001, Jones held various position coaching positions at
Central Michigan before he became offensive coordinator of the
Chippewas (2002-04). For two seasons, Jones was wide receivers
coach at West Virginia (2005-06) before he finally got his big
break as he was named the head football coach at CMU in 2007. He
served as head coach at Central until he resigned in 2009 to become
head coach at Cincinnati.
Through his rise to the top, however, Jones still reflects fondly
on his Ferris. Returning to his alma mater was an opportunity to
inspire students and encourage them to create a vision statement
for themselves, unleash the passion to be successful and refuse to
be held back.
"I am going to talk about a vision and a passion for what you're
doing," Jones said. "I wanted them to understand why some achieve
some success while some struggle."
The Inspirational Story Of The Will To
Succeed
The Butch Jones Story is an inspirational one. He is the first to
confess that he did have the best standardized test scores coming
out of college. But, he is proud to say he achieved a grade point
average of 3.47.
"I have my Ferris State transcript laminated on my desk so when a
kid comes in and tells me he hates school and school is not for him
and I know he is smart I pull that out and show him anybody can do
it," Jones said. "If I got less than an 'A' I was ticked off."
"Everything I've done I have had to work from ground zero and work
my way up," added Jones, who always at worked had conversations
with former University of Michigan coach Lloyd
Carr, current University of Florida coach Urban
Meyer and former CMU head coach and athletics director
Herb Deromedi. "It doesn't matter where you're at
or where you're coming from. If you keep your eyes on what your
vision and goals are you can accomplish anything you put your mind
to accomplishing."
Jones Proves You Can Always Come Home
But, he was not big timing anyone during his return to Ferris. He
returned with fond memories and a lot of smiles as he appreciated a
campus that is reinventing itself through the modernization of
classroom and new facilities.
"This place has meant so much to me and I am proud to say that I
am a Ferris grad and I am an alumnus of Ferris State," Jones said.
"Being back on campus I see growth, I see a vision, I see a premise
of always continuing to improve. It makes me proud as an alumnus to
see the growth the University is making."
