Double Vision: Jones Preparing Jags For Tomorrow ... Today

In four days South Alabama Head Coach Joey Jones sends his Jaguars into their second ever football season when they tee it up against the Pikeville (KY) Tigers from the Mid-South Confernece.

Not a particularly compelling or sexy home opener, you must agree.

Unless you buy into the storyline that Jones' team is still undefeated and has significantly upgraded 2010's opponents from the rag-tag band of gypsies they completely outclassed last season.

Included in this year's 10-game schedule is also the team's first-ever road trips, three to be exact, including a nice two-day junket to metro Sacramento, California, and an Oct. 23 date with UC Davis.

But is Jones really getting his team ready for the likes of Pikeville Saturday, Nicholls State two weeks later or Davis a couple of months from now?

OR are his sights already set on frying bigger fish for football-mad fans in this part of the state when the team begins Division I play at North Carolina State just about a year from now?

"Our goal has been big-time Division I football play from the start," said Jones, taking a break to talk candidly after 2010's first game-week media luncheon Monday. 

"Now, does that mean we're not going to prepare for Pikeville or not prepare for Nicholls State?

"Absolutely not!" he bellowed with emphasis. "But the players we've recruited and everything we do is geared toward that (beginning Division I play in 2011)."

The Jags also play at Kent State next season, at Mississippi State in 2012 and again in Raleigh, before traveling to Knoxville and a date with Tennessee in 2013.

And by the time Navy blows into Mobile in 2014, Jones' guys will have already been knee-deep in D-I play and well on their way to the bright lights of college football he's long envisioned.

"It's a step-by-step process," said Jones of laying the foundation for a major college football program. 

"We're always trying to get guys who think big ... have big goals.

"We want to be on ESPN one day. We're not a Division I program yet. We're not where we need to be.

"But we're getting there."

Before USA even took the field for last season's 7-0 run, Jones had sought out a pretty good college football architect to give him a crash course in Building a College Football Program From the Ground Up, 101.

"We talked to Florida Atlantic ... flew down to visit with Coach Howard Schnellenberger for a couple of days," he said.

"What I learned most from him was what not to do.

"He said he'd made some mistakes along the way that he wishes he wouldn't have made.

"I wrote those thoughts down. And don't forget," Jones cautioned. "I was at Birmingham Southern (when the school brought in football)."

USA's staff also spoke with coaches at South Florida and Old Dominion, two universities well-versed in how to bring big-time football to a heretofore basketball school.

"I think we're on the right track," he said. "We talk about it with the players and coaches all the time.

But, first things first. And that means the 2010 season opener with Pikeville's Tigers Saturday.

"We're ready to put on the uniforms and play some football now, but we're always thinking about tomorrow."

Or to quote that famous American folk hero ... Buzz Lightyear:

"To infinity and beyond!"