Jones most recently led Central Michigan University to a pair of Mid-American Conference Championships and three-straight bowl appearances.

Since arriving in Cincinnati, Jones has made an immediate impact, building a staff of championship-level coaches and teachers, as well as an atmosphere of competition and family, while also overseeing an academic quarter of great success. The team achieved a GPA of 2.7 during the Winter 2010 quarter, its best ever. Thirty-two student-athletes achieved a GPA at 3.0 or above.

At Central Michigan, Jones continued that program's renaissance, going 27-13 over the past three seasons, including a 22-3 mark in league games, winning a pair of MAC Championships (2007, 2009), playing in three-straight bowl games, and earning a postseason ranking of No. 23 in 2009. He is the only coach in CMU history to lead the team to consecutive bowl games and is the first in MAC history to do it in his first three seasons as head coach.

"Butch Jones has proven himself to be a championship-caliber football coach," Director of Athletics Mike Thomas said. "I am impressed by the qualities he brings to the table, his knowledge of the BIG EAST Conference, and his desire to succeed. We're proud to welcome him to the UC family."

Jones coached 32 all-MAC performers, including two-time MAC Offensive Player of the Year and 2009 MAC Vern Smith Leadership Award winner Dan LeFevour, and two-time MAC Special Teams Player of the Year Antonio Brown. Under his tutelage, 13 student-athletes earned Academic all-MAC accolades.
LeFevour had an NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Record 148 career touchdowns (101 passing, 46 rushing and one receiving). His 101 career passing TDs, are the most in MAC history.

CMU was 22-3 against MAC opponents during Jones' tenure, including victories in the 2007 and 2009 MAC Championship Games. The Chippewas were 12-1 in MAC road games under Jones and earned two-straight wins over Big Ten teams.

In 2007, Jones became only the ninth first-year head coach to lead his team to a Mid-American Conference championship. The Chippewas' eight victories marked the second-most of any CMU coach in his debut season, and Jones was one of three first-year head coaches nationwide to coach in a bowl game.

The Chippewas clinched the 2007 MAC West Division title with a 34-31 win at Western Michigan, CMU's first win in Kalamazoo since 1993. CMU went on to defeat Miami (OH), 35-10, four weeks later in the MAC Championship Game, a win that secured the Chippewas a spot in the Motor City Bowl.

The 2008 season was highlighted by another win over Western Michigan, 38-28, in front of a record crowd at Kelly/Shorts Stadium and a 37-34 win on the road at Indiana. The victory over the Hoosiers was CMU's first against a Big Ten opponent since 1992. CMU capped the 2008 season with its third consecutive appearance in the Motor City Bowl.

CMU led the MAC in both all-conference and academic all-conference selections in 2007, and the Chippewas' seven All-MAC first team selections in 2008 were the most for the program since 1990. Over the past two years, CMU has collected the league's offensive player of the year (Dan LeFevour, 2007, `09), freshman of the year (Antonio Brown, 2007) and special teams player of the year (Antonio Brown, 2008, `09) honors. LeFevour earned the offensive player of the year accolade after becoming just the second player in NCAA history to pass for 3,000 yards and rush for 1,000 yards in the same season.

Prior to becoming the Chippewas' head coach, Jones spent a total of 11 seasons as an assistant at the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision level. He served as the offensive coordinator at three different schools, spanning eight seasons, and worked directly with 24 all-conference selections in 15 years as a full-time position coach.

A native of Michigan and a former offensive coordinator at CMU, Jones returned to Mount Pleasant after spending the 2005 and 2006 seasons as an assistant coach under Rich Rodriguez at West Virginia University. West Virginia, employing a spread offensive attack, ranked second in Division I-A in rushing offense (303.0 ypg), third in scoring offense (38.9 ppg) and fifth in total offense (461.4 ypg) in 2006.

Jones translated that success to CMU. In 2007, the Chippewas were the only team to rank in the top four in the MAC in scoring offense (first, 33.8 ppg), total offense (second, 447.9 ypg), rushing offense (third, 182.8 ypg) and passing offense (fourth, 265.1 ypg). In 2008, CMU ranked second in the conference in both passing (289.8 ypg) and total offense (423.5), and the passing attack ranked 12th nationally.

CMU scored 30 or more points in 16 games during Jones' tenure; the Chippewas posted at least 40 points seven times, including three 50-point efforts. The 2007 and 2008 campaigns are the program's highest scoring seasons since CMU joined the MAC in 1975.

In two seasons at West Virginia, Jones was part of teams that recorded back-to-back 11-win campaigns, a pair of top-10 national rankings and victories in the 2006 Sugar Bowl and 2007 Gator Bowl.

Jones spent a total of 11 seasons as an assistant at the Division I-A level. He served as the offensive coordinator at three different schools, spanning eight seasons, and worked directly with 24 all-conference selections in 15 years as a full-time position coach.

Jones filled a variety of roles during his first stint at CMU (1998-2004), including serving as offensive coordinator from 2001-03. The Chippewas averaged just 271.5 yards per game and 12.5 points per game in 2000; in 2001, Jones' first season directing the offense, those averages jumped to 379.5 yards per game and 22.8 points per game, respectively. He coached three different running backs who earned first or second team all-MAC honors.

A 1990 graduate of Ferris State University where he was a two-year letterman on the football team, Jones broke into the coaching ranks while still an undergraduate by serving as intern for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 1987-89. He spent the 1990-92 seasons as a graduate assistant at Rutgers University before taking over as the offensive coordinator at Wilkes University in 1993. He directed an offense at Wilkes that led the Middle Atlantic Conference in scoring offense and total offense in 1993, a season in which it won a conference title and qualified for the NCAA Division III Playoffs.

Jones returned to his alma mater in 1995 as a running backs coach, only to be promoted to offensive coordinator for the 1996 season. The Bulldogs, while leading the Midwestern Intercollegiate Football Conference in total offense and scoring offense, won a second consecutive MIFC championship in 1996 and advanced to the NCAA Division II Quarterfinals.

Jones, 41, and his wife Barb are the parents of three children: Alex, Adam, and Andrew.

• Since arriving in Cincinnati, head coach Butch Jones has made an immediate impact, overseeing an academic quarter of great success.
• The Bearcats achieved a team GPA of 2.7 during the Winter 2010 quarter, up from a 2.4 in the Fall 2009.
• Thirty-two student-athletes achieved a GPA of 3.0 or above, including linebacker JK Schaffer who tallied a 4.0 GPA.

• UC returns 13 starters from last year's BIG EAST Championship squad, including all-league selections Armon Binns (WR), Alex Hoffman (OL), Jason Kelce (OL), and Ben Guidugli (TE).
• The defense returns four of the top-six tacklers from the 2009 squad, linebacker JK Schaffer (100 tackles), safety Drew Frey (64 tackles, two interceptions), defensive back Dominique Battle (60 tackles, two interceptions), and linebacker Walter Stewart (59 tackles, 8.5 TFLs, 4.5 sacks).

HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE ...

• UC is 12-0 at Nippert Stadium in the past two seasons, the first time in school history the Bearcats have two-straight seasons with an unblemished home record.
• UC's 2009 average of 33,957 set a single-season mark for attendance, shattering the 2008 record of 31,964.
• In the past three seasons, UC has set three-straight attendance records and over 500,000 fans (577,006) have come through the Nippert turnstiles.

UC IN ELITE COMPANY ...

• With its second-straight outright league title, UC has entered an elite group among its fellow BCS members.
• The Bearcats are just the sixth school to win two or more outright BCS conference titles since 2000.
• They join Virginia Tech, Ohio State, Oklahoma, USC, and Miami (FL).
• The six BCS automatic qualifier leagues are the ACC, BIG EAST, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-10, and SEC.

UC AGAINST THE TOP-25 ...

• Since 2007, UC tops the NCAA FBS in winning percentage against top-25 teams during the regular season.
• During that span, UC is 8-2 (.800) in 10 games against ranked foes, leading Texas (.778), USC (.750), and Florida (.727).

BEARCATS' GRADUATION RATE LEADS BCS TOP-10 ...

• The Bearcats rank atop the final 2009 Bowl Championship Series Top-10 in academic rankings, according to the latest Graduation Success Rates, released by the NCAA.
• UC checked in with a 75 percent NCAA graduation rate and a 71 percent federal government rate, the only team in the BCS top-10 to surpass the 70-percent plateau on both lists.
• The graduation rates are for student-athletes entering college in 2002-03, meaning they earned their diplomas within six years.

NOTING THE ASSOCIATED PRESS POLL ...

• UC has been ranked in the Associated Press poll for 20 weeks over the 2008 and 2009 seasons, reaching as high as the No. 4 spot on two occasions in 2009 - Nov. 1 and Dec. 6.
• Prior to that, the Bearcats appeared in only 14 AP polls from 1936 to 2007.