Associate head coach Derek Jones leaving Duke football for Texas Tech

Duke is losing one of its longest-tenured football assistant coaches.

Associate head coach Derek Jones, one of David Cutcliffe’s first hires when he took over the program in December 2007, is leaving to coach at Texas Tech.

Hired at Duke in January 2008, Jones has coached defensive backs for all of Cutcliffe’s 12 seasons as Duke’s head coach. Only Jones and quarterbacks coach Zac Roper had been at Duke for Cutcliffe’s entire tenure.

Jones will coach cornerbacks with the Red Raiders, where he’ll be reunited with Texas Tech’s second-year head coach Matt Wells. Jones and Wells were on the same coaching staff at Tulsa in 2006. Texas Tech lost its cornerbacks coach, Julius Brown, to Fresno State last month.

A 1996 graduate of the University of Mississippi, where he played cornerback for four seasons, Jones began his coaching career at his alma mater as a graduate assistant in 1998. When Cutcliffe was hired as the Rebels head coach in December 1998, Jones stayed on as a graduate assistant coach in 1999.

He had stops at Murray State, Middle Tennessee and Memphis in addition to Tulsa before coming to Duke 12 years ago.

With the Blue Devils, Jones coached several of the program’s top defensive players, including cornerbacks Ross Cockrell and Breon Borders and safety Matt Daniels. All went on to play in the NFL.

In addition, defensive backs Leon Wright, Walt Canty, DeVon Edwards and Mark Gilbert all made an all-ACC team at some level while playing for Jones.

Jones is the second assistant coach to leave Duke this offseason. Offensive line coach Jim Bridge left the Blue Devils and is now coaching that position at Memphis. Duke hired Greg Frey to coach its offensive linemen.