Wayne Jones

Inducted Class of 2025

Wayne Jones arrived in Tucson in the spring of 1977, the quarterbacks coach at Arizona at a time the UA football team had been invited to join the mighty Pac-10 a year later.
Jones was considered a coup for new Arizona coach Tony Mason; Jones had coached Ohio’s Marion High School to an undefeated state championship in 1969 and was then hired away by his alma mater, Purdue, to coach receivers and quarterbacks.
At 38, it seemed Jones was in the prime of his coaching career. Few could have guessed that Jones still had one big move to make in Tucson’s coaching ranks.
He stepped away from coaching after the ‘78 season to enter private business. But Jones began to miss coaching and when Marana’s newest school, Mountain View High School, opened in 1987, he applied to be the head coach. Bingo.
Jones’ Mountain Lions went 0-10 in his first season, which isn’t unusual in any type of coaching. A year later he went 5-5 followed by 7-4. The Mountain Lions were a tough out and Jones’ coaching ability then took hold.
Mountain View went 10-2 in 1991 and 9-2 a year later, building toward a much-anticipated 1993 season. With star running back Kevin Schmidtke becoming the state’s player of the year, Jones coached the Mountain Lions to a perfect and unforgettable 14-0 season. How good were they? The Mountain Lions defeated Sahuaro 63-32 in the 1994 state championship game at Arizona Stadium.
The former defensive back from Purdue (1956-59) was rolling.
Jones coached Mountain View to the playoffs 13 times in 19 years before retiring after the 2006 season. His memorable state championship season wasn’t a one-shot wonder. Mountain View went 8-3. 10-2 and 9-2 in back-to-back-to-back seasons, 1998-2000 and again rose to the top with a 10-2 record in 2003. When Jones retired he had a 134-75 record at Mountain View, then the fifth most coaching victories in Tucson prep football history.
Since Jones left Mountain View, the school has won only two playoff games over 19 seasons, under five different coaches.
In 2016, Mountain View named its football facility “Wayne Jones Field.’’ If you’re ever playing golf at Crooked Tree Golf Course, his sign is clearly visible from the No. 10 hole.
Jones regarded himself as an old-school type coach.
“I started playing football in sixth grade in west Texas in 1950,’’ he said. “We wore those plastic helmets with no face masks. We also had leather helmets.’’
Old school or not, Jones was one of the most successful football coaches in the history of Tucson prep football.