Crayton Jones, a native of Las Vegas, Nev., enters his third season on the FMU bench as an assistant coach, and his fourth year at FMU.

His primary responsibilities include recruiting, on-floor coaching, individual player workouts, pre- and post-season workouts and helping in the area of academic support for team members.

Jones played for the Patriots during the 2007-08 and 2008-09 seasons. In the backcourt, he started 47 games over two seasons.

As a senior, he ranked 71st nationally in assists per game, and helped the Patriots to their second-best season record in this decade. In the Peach Belt, he ranked second in assists per game, sixth in steals per game, and 17th in rebounding.

During his playing career, he was a member of the FMU Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC).

Prior to coming to Francis Marion, Jones played two seasons at Pima Community College in Tucson, Ariz.  He averaged 15.7 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 5.3 apg, 1.9 spg in 2006-07 while hitting 57.6 percent of his field goal attempts.  He earned first-team All-Conference and honorable mention All-Region recognition, while being named his team's most valuable player.

He earned the B.B.A. degree from Francis Marion in 2010.

Jones has worked the Five-Star Basketball Camp, served as an NBA Summer League assistant coach (Detroit Pistons) for three years, as well as working the various summer camps at FMU.

He also serves as a mentor/volunteer at the Billie Hardee Home for Boys in Darlington, S.C.

(9-27-11)