"This is a tremendous honor and I am very excited to represent our country," Jones said Tuesday during a formal announcement at Tulane's recently rebuilt Turchin Stadium. The national team assignment is a temporary one that allows Jones to remain Tulane's full-time head coach.

However, he will be busier than usual next summer as the national squad embarks on playing tours of Japan, Taiwan, the Netherlands and various spots in the United States, including at least one game at Tulane's on-campus ballpark in historic Uptown New Orleans. Jones, who grew up in Bennett, N.C., has been Tulane's head coach for 15 years. His record since joining the Green Wave is 639-306-2 (.674). He has twice coached Tulane to the College World Series.

Jones has coached with USA Baseball before. He was the pitching coach on the 1990 U.S. national team that won a bronze medal at the Goodwill Games and a silver medal at the Presidential Cup in Taiwan. He also was on the coaching staff of the 1989 Presidential Cup squad. The amateur team Jones will lead next summer will be comprised of 22 of the best college players in the country. They will be players with at least one year of NCAA eligibility remaining.

"I would expect there will be some local talent between ourselves and the other schools in the area on the ballclub next year É especially when you consider the tradition we have with college baseball in this area," Jones said. USA Baseball is the organization that also selects and trains the U.S. Olympic Baseball Team, which will compete in China this summer.

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