Sunny Jones has been hired to take over as the Detroit Titan softball team's head coach, UDM athletic director Keri Gaither announced today.
Jones, who has served as assistant softball coach at Toledo for the past three seasons, will fill the position left open when Bob Wilkerson stepped down on May 13. She will officially begin her duties on July 1.
"I'd like to thank Teri Kromrei and her search committee for conducting a thorough national search which brought us such strong candidates, and I am excited that Sunny Jones is taking over the Titan softball program," Gaither said.
"Coach Jones has a wealth of experience as a coach, and she was standout college player as well. Her leadership as a coach and recruiter, at many different levels, has been tremendous. As a player, her competitiveness and talent garnered her numerous national awards and nominations. She knows what it takes to win, and I am confident that she'll take this program to the next level."
Prior to her stint on the Toledo staff, where she served as the Rockets' recruiting and scouting coordinator, Jones served as head softball coach at Hillsdale College. During the two seasons with the Chargers, Jones racked up 47 victories and guided the team to back-to-back appearances in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament. Her initial collegiate experience came as an interim head coach/assistant coach at Concordia (MI) University from 2002-04, where she was responsible for all aspects of the team management, including recruiting and fundraising while also coaching her players.
“I'm looking forward to this new experience and getting back to head coaching and running a program,” Jones said. “I'm looking forward to leading our team to more success this season and in the future.
“I'm learning more about UDM every day, and I know it's an outstanding school that will be attractive to potential players. This is a new experience. Being a Division I head coach is a big deal to me. I'm looking forward to working with our team to see what they need and to push them to do better things in the future.”
A 2000 Ashland University graduate who majored in Physical Education and Health Education, Jones was named the NCAA Division II Player of the Year as a senior in 1999 and earned first-team All-America honors as a centerfielder in each of her four seasons with the Eagles (1996-1999). She was a finalist for the Honda Woman of the Year Award in 1999 and was also invited to compete in the U.S. Olympic Team tryouts the same year. In addition, she was named the GLIAC Player of the Year in 1996 and 1997.
Following her collegiate career, Jones played professionally for the Akron Racers of the WPSL in 1999, while serving as the lead hitting instructor at the Doug Gillis Softball Academy before entering the college coaching ranks.
The former Sunny Litteral, Jones still holds eight season and seven career records at Ashland and finished her Eagle career with a .450 batting average and 44 home runs.
