Janell Jones, who has held head coaching positions at five institutions, has been named USF's associate head women's basketball coach.
 
Jones arrives on the Hilltop from Cal State Dominguez Hills, where she served as new USF women's coach Molly Goodenbour's top assistant for 2015-16 season when the Toros earned a share of the California Collegiate Athletic Association's regular season championship. She was named the Toros head coach on July 29 after Goodenbour accepted the head coaching position at Cal State-East Bay.
 
She also held head coaching positions at Cal State-Los Angeles, Mercer, UC San Diego and Oklahoma City. Her career head coaching record stands at 333-133 (.715).
 
"Janell and I worked well and had a lot of fun coaching together last year at Dominguez Hills," said Goodenbour. "Our style and approach to the game are complementary and she has helped broaden my perspective, especially on the offensive side. I'm very excited to be able to continue to work with here at USF."
 
Prior to joining Goodenbour's staff at Cal State-Dominguez Hills, Jones served as the head coach at Cal State-Los Angeles for four seasons, leading the Golden Eagles to a program record-tying 21 wins and a consecutive appearances in the CCAA Tournament title game. She inherited a program that had just one winning season in the previous 10 years before leading CSULA to back-to-back winning campaigns in 2011-12 and 2012-13.
 
Before she took over the Cal State-Los Angeles program, Jones spent three seasons at Mercer (2007-10), where she helped turnaround a struggling program. Two seasons after taking over a program that had won just five games in 2006-07, Jones guided the Bears to a 17-14 record in 2008-09, which was only the program's second winning season since 1996-97. Mercer enjoyed the biggest RPI turnaround in the country, jumping from No. 315 at the conclusion of the 2007-08 season to No. 162 in the final week of the 2008-09 campaign.
 
Prior to her appointment at Mercer, Jones compiled a 50-10 overall record in two seasons as the head coach at UC San Diego (2005-07), where she led the Tritons to a pair of NCAA Division II playoff appearances. In 2007, UC San Diego advanced to the national semifinals where it fell to eventual national champion Southern Connecticut State. Jones was named the CCAA's Coach of the Year while Leora Juster earned Division II first team All-America honors.
 
In five seasons (2000-05) as the head coach at Oklahoma City, she compiled an overall record of 175-14 (.926) and her teams never finished a season with fewer than 32 victories. She was named the NAIA's Coach of the Year in 2001 and '02 after leading the Stars to national championships in both seasons. She originally joined the Oklahoma City staff as an assistant coach in 1998 and helped the team to back-to-back NAIA titles in 1999 and 2000.
 
Jones was also an assistant coach at Oral Roberts in Tulsa, Okla. Following a three-year stint as the head coach at Carl Albert High School in Midwest City, Okla., where she led the Titans to the 1996 Oklahoma City Class 5A State Championship. Her program produced three NCAA Division I players, including former WNBA player Paige Sauer.