ORLANDO, Fla. – The UCF softball team has added Whitney Jones to its staff as an assistant coach. The former Washington volunteer assistant coach was officially added to the staff on Aug. 17 and rejoins head coach Cindy Ball-Malone, who was an assistant coach with the Huskies while Jones was a player there.
"I had the opportunity and privilege to coach Whit at Washington during her freshmen and sophomore seasons," said Ball-Malone. "The things she was able to do as a player were incredible, she could slap and hit for power from the left side and also bat from the right. Her work ethic was above and beyond any athlete I've ever coached or even played with."
Fresh off a four year-stint with Washington as a volunteer assistant coach, Jones comes to Orlando to serve as an assistant coach, working with the offense in all aspects of the game.
"Her knowledge and experience as a coach is incredible," said Ball-Malone. "She has experience as a coach on the field as well as being a certified strength coach. She just has an instinct on knowing what a team needs to do softball wise and movement wise in order to succeed."
Jones was a former outfielder and pitcher for Washington and was responsible for coaching the outfielders for all four seasons of her coaching tenure. Her group hit over .300 in each of those four seasons and committed just 20 errors over that span. Her outfielders had four members named to an All-Region team and had five named to All-Pac-12 Teams.
While playing for the Huskies, Jones was a two-time Pac-12 All-Academic performer and was an All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention in 2014. She earned a master's degree at Tulsa as well as her strength coach certification. Jones was the head coach of Garfield High School's softball team in 2017 and posted a 19-8 record as the team earned it's first ever WIAA state championships trip. She earned Garfield's Coach of the Year honor at the end of the campaign.
Ball-Malone has assembled quite the staff this offseason. The Knights brought on Tyler Heil in early July as an assistant coach who will be responsible for the team's defense. Both Heil and Jones spent time playing on the diamond as student-athletes in college. UCF also recently added Adam DeRusha to the staff as a Director of Ops who has served in multiple roles at with the Florida, LSU and Oregon State softball programs.
"I would put our staff up there as one of the bests against any of the top programs in the country," said Ball-Malone, "not only do I believe that we have an edge from a tactical standpoint, but they're also incredible human beings."
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