Loras College Athletics

Matt Jones is in his 11th season as the Loras track and field head coach in 2024 after spending seven seasons as an assistant under Bob Schultz. In total, Jones has been on the coaching staff at Loras for 18 seasons.

Since becoming a coach at Loras, Jones has coached more than 150 conference champions, dozens of NCAA Qualifiers, 173 All-Americans and 35 national champions.Additionally, under Jones' leadership, numerous school, conference, and a national record have been broken. Jones and his staff have been named the American Rivers Conference Coaching Staff of the Year each of the last three years on the men's and women's side, in addition to having earning the honor on the men's side in 2020. He has earned the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) National Coach of the Year five times with his most recent coming off the heels of the women's program having earned its second indoor track and field NCAA championship in 2024. 

One of Jones' most outstanding athletes over the 2023-24 season was Grace Alley, who shattered records at the college and reset a national mark in the pentathlon with 3,986 points - breaking a record that sat in place for nearly 10 years. Alley closed out the 2023-24 year with three combined NCAA titles, six First Team All-American honors, two Second Team All-American honors, a USTFCCCA National Women's Field Athlete of the Year award, two USTFCCCA Midwest Region Field Athlete of the Year awards, and five A-R-C Champion performances. 

The highlight of 2023-24 came when the women's team earned its second NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championship after scoring 51 team points, beating out Washington University by two points for the crown. Earning the championship couldn't have been any more intense, as 4x400-meter relay race, the final event of the meet, was the determining factor in who walked away as champions. The quartet of Alley, Alyssa Pfadenhauer, Kelly Kohlhof, and Harmony Creasy finished the race in sixth, earning the team three points and solidifying the program's title.  

In 2019, Loras finished in the top-10 at the Indoor NCAA Championships for the first time in program history as the women placed fourth and the men took eighth. The women's team capped off the outdoor season in historic fashion, winning Loras' first-ever national championship title at the NCAA Division III Outdoor National Championship. The Duhawks tallied 53 points off of nine entries, six of which scored points, and crowned four individual national-champions in the 100-meter and 200-meter dash, 10,000-meter run, and 4-by-100-meter relay. Gabby Noland was named the Outstanding Track Performer of the Meet for her three national titles and earned the program's first ever United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) National Track Athlete of the Year honor, becoming only the second Duhawk in any sport to earn national recognition.

After the COVID-19 pandemic canceled the 2020 indoor and outdoor season as well as the NCAA Indoor Championship in 2021, the women's team came back for the 2021 outdoor championship to defend the title and win the program's second-straight national championship. The 4-by-100-meter relay set a school record to defend its title and the Duhawks had three national runner-ups and 16 All-Americans. Jones was honored as the USTFCCCA Central Region and National Coach of the Year for the second-straight year while Terrianna Black was the Central Region Field Athlete of the Year. The women did it again at the 2022 outdoor championship, coming away with the national title in the 4-by-100 and 4-by-400-meter relays and becoming the fifth program in Division III history to win three-consecutive championships. Kassie Parker was named the USTFCCCA Regional, National and Outstanding Performer of the Meet indoors after winning the 3,000 and 5,000-meter runs and was the Regional Track Athlete outdoors.

On the men's side, Patrick Mikel won the 400-meter dash and earned All-America honors in the 200-meter and 4-by-400-meter relay in 2019. The Duhawks have also posted three top-ten finishes at the NCAA Championships and one podium finish, taking fourth in 2022 at the indoor championship. Mike Jasa was the 800-meter national champion outdoors in 2021, Ryan Rogers won the heptatlon indoors in 2022 and in 2015, Zach Frey was the recipient of the NCAA's Elite 90 award. The Elite 90 is presented to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average participating at the finals site for each of the NCAA’s 90 championships. 

On the Cross Country side, Jones helped coach the 2022 Cross Country Teams back to Nationals, where the Women’s Cross Country team 2^nd in the American Rivers Conference (A-R-C), 4^th in the Midwest Regional, and 18^th at Nationals.  Senior Kassie Parker finished 1^st at the A-R-C Cross Country Championships and the NCAA National Championship.  The Men’s Cross Country team finished 2^nd in the A-R-C Championships, 3^rd in the Midwest Regional, and 20^th at Nationals.  Both teams earned an at-large bid to the National Championship.

Jones is a 2005 graduate of Loras College where he spent three seasons competing as a member of the track and field program. During his time at Loras, Jones earned All-American honors twice (2003 Outdoor T&F and 2004 Indoor T&F) and served as team captain his senior year. Jones is a 2000 graduate of Davenport Assumption High School and was a three-sport athlete for the Knights, competing in cross country, track and field and baseball.

He currently resides in Dubuque, with his wife, Lisa, their son, Elijah and daughter Ivy.