Coach’s Corner/Coastal Georgia/November 2013
Julie Jones
Savannah Christian Preparatory School
Savannah, Georgia
Robert Preston Jr.
Coach Jones, Lady Raiders chase elusive state volleyball championship.
Several times over the last 17 years, Savannah Christian Preparatory School head volleyball coach Julie Jones has been close to a state championship. Each time, she and her teams have narrowly missed the title. Four years in a row, from 2002 to 2005, the Lady Raiders have advanced to the championship match. Several other times, most recently last year, they have made it to the Final Four. Those opportunities, coupled with 11 area championships, are a testament to the kind of program that Jones has helped build at Savannah Christian.
She was on campus as a student when volleyball came to Savannah Christian. And now, all these years later, she has a legitimate chance to guide the Lady Raiders to a state championship.Jones attended Savannah Christian for three years,from 10th to 12th grade. She played softball, basketball, tennis, and ran track. When she was a junior, Savannah Christian started volleyball. Jones had never played volleyball before and didn’t know much about the game. Volleyball and softball shared a season, and she was used to spending her fall semesters on the softball field. During Jones’s senior basketball campaign, she tore an ACL, effectively ending her high school athletic career. She had the knee repaired after graduation and then headed off to Georgia College and State University in Milledgeville. After earning a degree in health and physical education, she returned to Savannah Christian to teach and coach. “I had hoped I could go back to Savannah Christian to teach and coach. It’s what I always wanted to do. The Lord opened up a door for me at the right time. This is where I was meant to be,” she says.
Seventeen years later, Jones is still teaching and coaching at her alma mater.She began coaching immediately upon being hired. Jones was told she would be coaching volleyball as an assistant as well as coaching both junior varsity (head coach) and varsity basketball (assistant coach). A year later, she took over as head volleyball coach. Jones had played a little intramural volleyball in college so she knew a little about the game. Still, she had a lot to learn and immediately started signing up for coaching clinics. She also joined an adult volleyball league in Savannah so she could put some of objectives she learned in the clinics into practice. “I tried to learn as much about the game as I could,” she says.Jones made an immediate impact. Her first year as head coach, the Lady Raiders won the area championship and went to the Elite Eight. They won the area nine more years in a row, and played for the state championship in 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005. After a couple of down years, Savannah Christian bounced back last year with an 11th area title and an appearance in the Final Four.
Jones attributes her success to two key principles: keeping things simple and having great players who are willing to do their best for the team. First and foremost, she gives credit to her players. “We’ve always had good kids who bought into what we were trying to do. Our players have always been smart and I’ve been able to develop relationships with them,” she says. Her coaching philosophy revolves around simplicity: “Keep everything simple and do the simple things well.” It’s not always easy to do – the game, the players, and the coaching profession in general change over time – but Jones has done an excellent job keeping her players focused and always striving to get better. Despite her success, the one accomplishment that has eluded her is a state championship.
By the time this edition of In the Game hits the streets, the season will likely be over and a champion will be crowned. At this writing, Savannah Christian was one of the favorites to win the title. The Lady Raiders were 30-7, and with the exception of one, each loss came against out-of-state teams. To win the championship, the Lady Raiders still had a lot of volleyball left. With an experienced, senior-laden team, their chances look very good. “I have such an amazing group of girls this year and I would love to accomplish with them the one thing we have yet to do, and that’s winning a state championship,” says Jones.
Julie Jones still coaches basketball, but now at the middle school level. She coached high school girls at 
the junior varsity and varsity levels for several years but took over the head women’s middle school coaching position when her older daughter, Landon, was nearing middle school age. Jones felt she could make a greater difference with middle school players. “Some of the things that really irritated me, like being in high school and not being able to make a left-handed lay-up, I felt like I could straighten out if I was coaching middle school,” she laughs. She coached Landon and it won’t be long before her younger daughter, Logan, now 10, will join her team as well – if Logan decides to play basketball. Her family has been a big part of her coaching career; without the support of her children, and her husband Jeff, she wouldn’t have enjoyed the level of success her teams have attained. “We are a very close family,” she says.
