July 18, 2007

Alabama A&M coach Anthony Jones completed his staff earlier this month, but admitted it will be a challenge to get his three new assistants up to speed by the time the Bulldogs report for preseason practice on Aug. 1. Jones hired former A&M tight end Errol Jones to coach running backs, Roger Totten, the brother of Mississippi Valley State coach Willie Totten, to coach receivers, and former Johnson High and Auburn standout Andy Fuller will serve as the Bulldogs' tight ends coach. Fuller will be a part-time assistant.

"It's going to be a test to get them ready," Anthony Jones said. "It's going to take some commitment from them and some from us to get this thing done. I have the utmost confidence in them."

Jones interviewed roughly 15 people before hiring his three new assistants.

"I interviewed them with the staff," he said. "We looked for a combination of things, including experience, track record, personality, knowledge of the game and how they would fit in with our staff. Their knowledge of the game was important and we felt they could communicate that knowledge to the kids."

Errol Jones, 40, and a 1990 graduate, comes to A&M after a highly successful tenure at Russellville High School. During his nine years there, including the last six as offensive coordinator, the Golden Tigers compiled a 99-21 record. They played in the Class 5A state championship game three times and reached the semifinals on three other occasions.

"Errol is a guy who can coach just about any skill position," Anthony Jones said. "He's an A&M guy and we've dealt with him through the recruiting process.

"He always gave us a shot at his best players and he's a proven winner."

Totten, 46, comes to A&M after serving as offensive coordinator/receivers coach at a number of schools over the last 10-plus years, including Mississippi Valley State, Tuskegee, Arkansas-Pine Bluff and Alcorn State.

As offensive coordinator at MVSU this past season, Totten helped the Delta Devils beat A&M 23-20.

"Totten played receiver and has the energy and experience to coach that position," Jones said. "We've coached against him several times and I thought he always did a good job."

Fuller, who served as a graduate assistant at A&M when Ron Cooper was head coach from 1998-2001, has been around the program throughout Jones' tenure.

"He has a lot of knowledge about the tight end position," Jones said.

Errol Jones replaces Stan Conner, who left to become the head coach at Benedict College after A&M won the Southwestern Athletic Conference championship last December. Totten replaces David Arnsparger, who left last month to become the head coach at West Limestone High School.

While Anthony Jones hated to lose Conner and Arnsparger, he says it's a sign A&M's program is moving in the right direction.

"One of the problems with success is people want to duplicate that," he said. "They want to take parts of that and put it in their programs and try to repeat it.

"We lost two coaches to head coaching positions. To me, that's a strong statement for our program."