Kristina Dailing
Daily Egyptian
Headline: Kathy Jones continues to help lead Salukis to new heights
Deckhead
SIU Athletic Director Paul Kowalczyk thinks of her as a turtle, but Kathy Jones doesn't hide when things get tough.
Jones has been the associate director of athletics at SIU since January 2000, and she plays an important role in the Athletic Department.
"She was actually hired before I got here, which was a precarious position for her to be in," Kowalczyk said. "But I've often said that I couldn't have hired anyone better."
And with 16 sports teams on campus, Jones has learned how to address problems that come her way and how to be patient when finding solutions to the problems.
"I'm the hare and she's the tortoise," Kowalczyk said. "I want to go, and she is the calming effect that says, 'Hey, let's think about this, and let's take a look at different approaches,'" Kowalczyk said.
It's important for her to be able to approach problems from different angles when all sports except football and men's and women's basketball report to her. If there is a problem with a student athlete, budgetary issues or team projects, coaches talk to Jones.
"She evaluates the coaches and again tries to work with them to provide the best experience possible for our student-athletes and to help those programs achieve their goals," Kowalczyk said.
The assistant athletic director of compliance and the coordinator for student services also work with Jones to deal with student appeals and NCAA rule violations.
"I am the people-person in the department, handling those kinds of issues," Jones said. "I seem to be the one who appeals in different issues and student appeals come to me."
But besides dealing with coaches and student-athletes, Jones also has to deal with the small amount of funding the athletic department must make due with.
This can be a difficult task because SIU is the only University in the Missouri Valley Conference that is not located in a standard metropolitan area of 50,000 or more.
"Every other institution in the MVC has a way to draw in fans, corporate sponsors and advertising from the surrounding area," Jones said. "Around here, we don't have that."
But obstacles don't make Jones' everyday jobs seem impossible. They just make her realize that she has to work a little harder to achieve her goals.
And she does have goals in mind for SIU.
"What I would really like to see is SIU win the MVC All-Conference trophy," Jones said. "And that would show that we have a level of success across the board."
Being a SIU alumna makes Jones even more dedicated to improving SIU athletics, especially since she came to SIU in 2000, a year she considers a difficult time for the University.
"Friends of mine said, 'Why would you want to go back there when things are in such turmoil, when there's no athletic director and there's an interim chancellor,'" Jones said. "But my answer was, 'SIU has given a lot to me, and it's my turn to give it back.'"
Jones didn't start her college career at SIU. She attended Northwest Missouri State, where she received a bachelor's in history and English.
She came to SIU in 1977 where she earned her master's degree in higher education college student personnel.
Jones also attended law school at William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul, Minn. While she attended law school, at night she worked for the University of Minnesota as an academic counselor. After she completed law school, she started a job as the first compliance coordinator at the University of Minnesota.
In 1989, she moved to Missouri to work at a law practice that specialized in NCAA compliance and infraction matters.
She was approached in 1999 by the former SIU associate athletic director, Charlotte West, to see if Jones was interested in the position.
"I was very flattered that she asked me, but I couldn't see myself filling her shoes," Jones said.
But after many people approached her about the position, she finally applied for the associate athletic director position at SIU.
Now two years later, she fills an important position in Saluki athletics, having survived rough times and she's ready to deal with more to come.
"I don't have any intentions of going anywhere," Jones said. "If I can be standing when the dust settles, I'll make it."
Reporter Kristina Dailing can be reached at kdailing@dailyegyptian.com
Published on 11/17/05; 12:24:44 PM
