Former Eastern men’s soccer volunteer assistant Chad Jones now finds himself staying in Springfield – but with a new job.

Jones, the director of the Springfield Area Soccer Association, was hired as the assistant women’s soccer coach at Illinois-Springfield on Feb. 23.

A 1994 Millikin graduate, Jones was a volunteer assistant for Eastern head men’s soccer coach Adam Howarth’s staff for four years.

“Chad Jones came in at a time when I was short on assistant coaches and was in transition before (Eastern men’s soccer assistant coach) Dino Raso started,” Howarth said. “He helped considerably in his high energy approach to the game of soccer. Last year, with his own responsibilities, he was only to help a handful of times but did a good job when he was here.”

Howarth complimented his former assistant by giving him his vote of confidence in his new opportunity at UIS. Howarth said Jones will have the ability to recruit and will use his connections in Springfield to his advantage to field a decent team.

“Chad is the type of person you need around a program, as he is positive and is knowledgeable about the game,” Howarth said. “(He) will be fine at UIS, as he had a good connection with all the best players in Springfield.”

Jones had nothing but good things to say about his experiences with Howarth at Eastern.

“I think Adam’s trained me well, and I’ve worked well with him,” Jones said. “He’s filled me in with a lot of things and has helped me with this position. I appreciate all of the things he’s helped me with. I was fortunate at Eastern. Adam showed me how a Division I program works. I’ll have the same kind of stuff that I did at Eastern; a lot of the stuff will be the same. There’s a little bit of differences but a lot of similarities, too.”

Jones is part of UIS’s plan to bring the school up to Division II status. The Prairie Stars currently compete at the NAIA level.

UIS’s soccer team has yet to play a game, but with the addition of the program, the Prairie Stars have the 10 sports necessary for the transition to Division II.

UIS women’s soccer coach Pete Kowall said Jones knowledge of the game, as well as the central Illinois area, would help get the best recruits.

“He has a wealth of knowledge of this area, and he has a better idea of this area than I do,” Kowall said. “His background of soccer helps, and he knows the ins and outs of NCAA soccer. He’s passed the test since he’s got that soccer background already, and he knows what he’s doing. He will also make me think in a different way in recruiting and that will help me out immediately.”

Jones said he could evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of players during the recruiting process to find the players who would fit well in the program.

“I envision our team to be competitive, especially since you’ve got to be competitive right away,” Jones said. “The last few weeks we have been on the phone recruiting night and day, and you have to have a solid base with some good recruits. We’re bringing in all of the people that we can. We’re hoping to be successful so we’re excited about getting our new program going.”

Kowall’s philosophy is similar to Jones’ in the sense that players need to grow and get better as time goes on, and he said that was a factor in hiring Jones.

“He’s a good teacher of the game,” Kowall said. “He can identify what players, at any level, what that player needs to do to get better. My philosophy (is the players need to do) what they need to do to get better, and, again, he has that experience that would separate him from somebody else.”

Jones will have other responsibilities with his job, so his coaching responsibilities are only part-time.

“He’s a part-time coach for us,” Kowall said. “He’ll have game-day opportunities and will help in practice when he can. His responsibility is to make training sessions, and he’ll help with recruiting, but he’ll be a pretty busy guy with a full-time job.”

Ross Meister can be reached at 581-7944 or at rwmeister@eiu.edu.