PROFILE minor league ballpark. The things he showed me worked great, and I got kudos from the athletic director and the baseball coach. The bug had bit me at that point. I wanted to learn and I wanted to do more.”
Jones continued to work part time for the Bulls while still working full time at Durham Academy and also going to school full time at North Carolina Central University.
Fast forward a couple of years, and Simpson was hired by the Town of Cary, North Carolina, which charged him with revamping what is now WakeMed Soccer Park— home of the College Cup( the Final Four of college soccer).
“ He reached out to me and asked me to come work for him,” said Jones.“ So, after 5-1 / 2 years at Durham Academy, I turned in my resignation letter, and worked as crew lead for the team at WakeMed Soccer Park.”
While in that role, Jones learned how to build team culture.
“ I thought that if I work hard, everybody else would just follow suit,” he said.“ It doesn’ t work that way. You have to inspire them to work as hard as they can. And you have to communicate so they understand not just what you’ re doing, but why you are doing it.”
Jones worked for the Town of Cary for two years( in addition to having worked part time for nine years with the Bulls), then went to law school for a year before taking a full-time position with the Bulls. Eventually, Longwood University made Jones an offer he couldn’ t refuse, and he became the assistant director of athletic facilities at Longwood University overseeing all outdoor athletic facilities. He spent 5-1 / 2 years in that role, commuting from North Carolina to Virginia.
From there, Jones and his wife started their own home renovation business, and he also worked as a baseball coach, PE teacher and health teacher.
“ I was coaching the baseball team and teaching. When I finished work, if we didn’ t have practice, I would drive to wherever the nearest repair job was,” he said.“ We were doing a fair amount of renovations when my wife saw a job posting
Photo provided by Alpha Jones, CSFM
in Fayetteville, North Carolina. I walked in for the interview with the Fayetteville Woodpeckers and instantly had great rapport with the GM. I started in March of 2018, and my first day on the job was about six weeks before opening day in a brand new stadium. The whole field was just drainage rock, and the stadium was still under construction. I got to see the whole thing from start to finish.”
For the next 5-1 / 2 years Jones served as director of field operations for the Fayetteville Woodpeckers, Low-A( now Single-A) affiliate of the Houston Astros.
“ It was an awesome experience,” said Jones.“ It was challenging in the beginning. The first year they struggled to fill the staff before I got hired. The next year was the COVID year. But after COVID, our reputation grew and we were turning people away for part-time applications. People wanted to come work on the grounds crew. We built a nice core of people who put into practice the things I mentioned earlier, especially in terms of diversity.” sportsfieldmanagementonline. com February 2026 | SportsField Management
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