Bio

With over 15 years of softball coaching experience, Matthew “Charlie” Jones joins the Los Angeles Pierce College softball program for his first year as head coach in July 2024.

While at California State University, Northridge (CSUN), Coach Jones was in a managerial role for the school’s Division 1 softball program and took part in the team's historic achievement in 2023 when it reached the postseason for the first time since 2015. The program also achieved 19 Big West wins during that regular season, the team's highest tally since 1998, and produced multiple all-conference award winners, including the freshman pitcher of the year.

While at CSUN, Jones worked under a very talented and experienced staff of coaches including Head Coach Charlotte Morgan, a three-time NFCA All-American, a two-time SEC Player of the Year, and a three-time first-team All-Conference selection for the University of Alabama; Coach Greg Bergeron, who spent the first 25 years of his career coaching baseball, with notable stops at UC Irvine, Cal State Fullerton, Tennessee, and Long Beach State, among others. He was also a part of College World Series staffs at UC Irvine in 2007 and at Cal State Fullerton in 2009 and is now a part of the Oklahoma State University softball program as an assistant coach and defensive coordinator; and finally Coach Terry Schweikert who worked for various influential softball programs such as Texas A&M, Cal State Fullerton, Nebraska, and Mizzou, achieving many accolades while at each, most notably a Big 12 championship and a member of multiple NFCA Coaching Staff of the Year awards.

As an assistant coach at Los Angeles Mission College, Coach Jones also saw success. He was a part of this program's historic first where the team reached the postseason for the first time since 2009. There, he coached outfielders and worked alongside multiple first and second-team all-conference award winners and the Golden Shoe award winner that year.

While at Glendale High, Jones was a part of another historic program achievement: the school’s first postseason win in a milestone victory that was dubbed by the local paper as the “biggest and likely wildest of the century.” That team was composed of players Jones had worked with since his first year of coaching, making it a special moment in his career.

As the head coach at South Pasadena High, Jones helped to inspire a significant change in the beleaguered program, instilling a more competitive team culture and attitude that garnered praise from parents, staff, administrators, umpires, and even opposing coaches, and leading them to their first league win in years. 

Overall, Jones has had a hand in developing student-athletes who went on to play in various collegiate softball programs as well as achieve great academic success at institutions such as UCLA, USC, Purdue, University of Utah, Salk Institute, and Cal Poly, further enabling those student-athletes to join a variety of careers in fields such as neuroscience, economics, law, research, physical therapy, media, and film.

Jones attained an associate's degree from Los Angeles City College in Kinesiology, Modern Political Studies, and Social and Behavioral Sciences. He then transferred to California State University Northridge where he earned his Bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology - Sports Studies in 2024. Jones is also an endorsed hitting and pitching coach through the National Fastpitch Coaches Association of which he has been a member since 2014.