LOCK HAVEN, Pa. – Albert Jones has been named the interim director of athletics at Lock Haven for the 2024-25 year, effective Aug. 31. Jones will take over for Tom Gioglio who announced his retirement on Feb. 1 after nine years at The Haven.
Jones brings experience to the athletic department as a former student-athlete on the Lock Haven football team.
“Any way that I can continue to give back and be part of Lock Haven says a lot in itself,” Jones said. “I know we’re not Lock Haven University but the campus for Lock Haven, any way that I can continue to be a part of the success of the campus is very important to me. I’m a team player. I get that from my sports background. Being a former football player here, you sometimes have to step up when there are times of need and times of leadership. This was an opportunity to fill in on an interim basis and continue to lead the athletic department forward. We’ve got a lot of great things going on. And for me, I’m fortunate enough to have the opportunity to be part of that, coming off of the successful seasons that all of our sports have had.”
An alumnus, Jones graduated in 1999 earning his undergraduate degree in business management before earning his master’s degree from the University of Phoenix in organizational management in 2003.
After graduating, he worked in Multicultural Affairs before leaving for the corporate world. When the opportunity arose, Jones came back and has served as Commonwealth University’s chief diversity, equity, and inclusion officer, a position he’s held since July 2021.
“The opportunity to come back as chief diversity, equity, and inclusion officer was one that I saw a passion for helping students and helping to provide perspective and understanding and build inclusiveness on the campus not only here but obviously across the other two locations for Commonwealth,” Jones said. “But for me, it was more about how I can be value-added and how I can assist in what we were building Commonwealth University to, and then my same approach is going to be that way with athletics.”
Before being named the interim athletic director, Jones remained a known figure in the department, being the public address announcer for the past 24 years and helping out with gameday operations. Jones was also a member of the Lock Haven Athletics Hall of Fame committee.
During his interim period, Jones looks forward to learning and working closely with the athletic staff, coaches, assistant coaches, and university to provide a smooth transition into his new role and explore the different opportunities the athletic department has to offer for student-athletes.
“[As the interim director] my style is what can we do to work collectively as a team to continue to advance and create successes for student-athletes in our athletic programs,” Jones said. “I want everyone to feel as though they have that opportunity to grow and engage to that point. I will be the first person to praise and celebrate their successes. And I’ll also be the first person to step up and take the blame if something goes wrong.”
Lock Haven will launch a search for a permanent athletic director at the start of the spring ‘25 semester.
