Willie Jones is in his 15th year of being a strength and conditioning Coach. He is currently the Associate Director of Athletic Performance for Football at the University of Minnesota.
Jones grew up in Yankton, SD, where his love of weight lifting started in high school. He attended South Dakota State University where he earned his bachelor's degree in health promotion in 2007. Jones played football for the Jackrabbits where he lettered three times, while competing for the Jackrabbit football team from 2002-06. He also was a Graduate Assistant strength coach from 2007-2009. He received his Master's degree in Sport Science from the school in May of 2012.
After Jones left SDSU in 2009, he was hired by the University of Nebraska as an assistant strength and conditioning coach. He worked under the direction of James Dobson for 6 years. During his time at Nebraska he was a part of the development of multiple draft picks from 2009-2014. In 2016 Jones left Nebraska to be an Associate Director of Athletic Performance at the University of Illinois. Jones worked for multiple strength coaches during his tenure at Illinois. Jones spent 5 years at the University of Illinois.
Jones and his wife, Andrea, were married in May of 2013 and have three children, Krayton, Asher and Everly. His son, Cameron, currently plays football for the Concordia University, St Paul Golden Bears.