Deneshia Faulkner was introduced as the 13th head coach in Jones women's basketball history on May 9, 2023.
The Heidelberg native takes over for the Bobcats after a successful five-year stint at Meridian High School where she guided the Lady Wildcats to their first MHSAA girls' championship in 2021-22.
Faulkner is familiar with Jones having played at Heidelberg and she has sent several players to play for the Bobcats in recent years.
She led the Lady Oilers to an undefeated regular season – the first in 25 years at HHS – with their only loss coming in the MHSAA championship game. Faulkner was also instrumental in helping HHS students achieve high English scores on the state standardized tests.
After serving 11 years as a high school coach, Faulkner is most proud of the fact that 100 percent of her players have graduated, 23 have earned athletic scholarships and four have enlisted in the nation's Armed Forces.
Faulkner went to Alabama State University and won six SWAC championships in track and field between 2000 and 2004. She studied English and Language Arts at ASU and then went to William Carey University where she received a bachelor's degree in English with a minor in education.
After graduating from WCU, she became an English teacher and then head coach at Heidelberg High School.
Faulkner is married to former Jones College basketball player Scottie Faulkner and they have two daughters, Raygan and Riley.
Josiah Lee enters his first season as an assistant coach for the Jones women's basketball program.
The Magee native joins the Bobcats after spending last season as the head boys' basketball coach at Mendenhall High School. Lee was hired four days before the first game and led the Tigers to a playoff berth with no returning players from the previous year's team.
Prior to Mendenhall, Lee assisted the girls' varsity program and was the head coach of the JV team for two years at Crystal Springs High School. The Tigers were district champs and made the Final Four at the Mississippi Coliseum in his first season and played in the district championship game and made the playoffs his second year.
Lee played collegiately for head coach Steve Knight at William Carey, the winningest coach in the program's history, from 2015-19. He was a volunteer assistant for the JV and varsity programs during the 2018-19 season.
He received his bachelor's from Carey in 2019 in Health, Physical Education and Recreation and is currently pursuing his master's in Interscholastic Athletic Administration.
Lee is married to his wife, Kendall, and the couple have a a 4-year-old son Alexander. His father works for the Mississippi DOE and mother is an assistant principal.
Lee attends Living Word Church & Family Center in Magee where his grandfather, Edgar Lee, is the pastor.