Walt Jones joined the baseball staff as assistant coach/recruiting coordinator in November of 2020. On March 25, 2024, Jones was elevated to acting head coach after head coach Chris Prothro took an immediate medical leave of absence. On May 15, 2024, Jones was chosen to lead the program as head coach moving forward.
While leading the program for the final 33 games of the 2024 season, Jones guided the Colonels to their third straight appearance in the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament. EKU is one of only four programs to qualify for each of the past three league tournaments.
Outfielder Ron Franklin Jr. capped an outstanding 2024 season by earning first team All-ASUN recognition. Tait Nunnally was chosen to the ASUN All-Freshman Team. In league games only, Franklin ranked first in slugging, first in on-base + slugging (1.279), third in home runs, sixth in batting average and eighth in RBIs. Nunnally batted .283 with 15 doubles, 11 home runs and 46 RBIs.
Jones served as the hitting instructor, and coached base running and the outfielders as an assistant. He helped the Colonels to a championship season in 2022. EKU went 38-20 overall and claimed a share of the ASUN Conference West Division Championship with a 20-10 league mark. The 38 wins were the most in a season since the 1990 squad won 42. It was Eastern Kentucky’s first conference title since 2012. The Colonels were picked to finish eighth in the ASUN Preseason Poll, but finished tied for the best overall conference record in the league.
Outfielder Kendal Ewell was a semifinalist for the Golden Spikes Award, given each year to the top amateur baseball player in the country. He also earned multiple national player of the week honors.
Ewell joined catcher Will King on the ASUN All-Conference Team. King also earned a spot on the ASUN All-Tournament team after leading the Colonels to the semifinals. Ewell was rated by D1Baseball.com as the 34th-best outfielder in the country. King was on the Buster Posey National Collegiate Catcher of the Year Award watch list.
EKU followed the championship campaign with 29 more wins in 2023, making it the winningest two-year period for the program since 1989 and 1990. Logan Thomason and King earned all-conference recognition. Chase Alderman was chosen to the ASUN All-Freshman Team.
King, who was chosen to the ABCA Rawlings Midwest All-Region Team, was picked by the Atlanta Braves in the 2023 MLB Draft. In addition, incoming freshman left-handed pitcher Bradley Stewart, was drafted in the 17th round by the Detroit Tigers.
The drafting of an incoming player speaks to the program’s recruiting success. EKU’s 2023 recruiting class was recognized by Collegiate Baseball News and ranked higher than such programs as South Florida, Wake Forest, Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas State, Middle Tennessee, Washington, South Alabama and Georgia Southern among others.
Eastern Kentucky won 17 more games in 2022 than the season before. As a team, the Colonels set a new record for fielding percentage (97.5 percent). The 2023 Colonels set a new program record for walks drawn in a season, surpassing a mark that had stood for 42 years.
In 2021, Jones helped the Colonels to victories over No. 15 Georgia Tech and No. 7 Louisville. Outfielder/designated hitter Caleb Upshaw was a first team all-conference selection that season.
Jones was a scouting director for the Prep Baseball Report-Louisiana and national JUCO scouting director for Prep Baseball Report-National from July 2019 to the fall of 2020. During his time with Prep Baseball Report he scouted amateur baseball throughout the state and country. He also booked, managed and marketed events, and assisted in all operations of Prep Baseball Report-Louisiana.
Before his time with Prep Baseball Report, Jones was the recruiting coordinator and associate head coach at Nicholls State University from 2014-19. While at Nicholls, Jones oversaw recruiting, coached the outfielders and hitters, and organized fundraising events.
Jones was an assistant coach at Chipola College from 2012 through 2013 where he coordinated camps and coached all position players, and the hitters. Before joining the Chipola staff he was at Nicholls State where he served a volunteer assistant coach and the director of baseball operations from 2009-12. As director of baseball operations from 2009-11 he assisted in all baseball operations. As a volunteer assistant from 2011-12 he was in charge of coordinating camps, coached the outfielders and assisted with the hitters.
Jones played baseball at Nicholls in 2007 and 2008 under head coach Chip Durham. Before going to Nicholls he played at Lurleen B. Wallace Community College in 2005 and 2006. He played football at the University of North Alabama in 2003 and 2004 under head coach Mark Hudspseth.
In October 2009 Jones participated in a Washington Nationals Minority Internship.
Jones earned his associate's of science degree from Wallace Community College in 2006, before transferring to Nicholls State. He completed his bachelor's of science at Nicholls in 2008.
