Loyola University Chicago Athletics

Kiley Jones, one of the most accomplished pitchers in Loyola history, rejoined her alma mater as an assistant coach in November 2022, where she specialized in pitching. She entered her third season on the coaching staff in 2025. 

The Ramblers finished 19-34 overall and 14-12 in Atlantic 10 play to earn them the No. 6 seed in their third consecutive appearance at the conference tournament. In Loyola's home opener against Saint Joseph's, senior pitcher Peyton Pepkowski recorded her 600th career strikeout, becoming just the second Rambler to ever meet that feat (March 22). Pepkowski earned back-to-back A-10 Pitcher of the Week honors in 2025 (March 31, April 7) and finished her Loyola career with 696 strikeouts, featuring a career-best 198 K's in 2024. 

Jones' first season on staff was one to remember; Loyola posted a 29-24 overall record and a 16-10 finish in the A-10, earning the No. 3 seed in the Atlantic 10 Tournament. The Ramblers defeated Saint Joseph's and No. 2 Saint Louis to advance to the semifinals before dropping a pair of games to eventual champions, No. 1 Dayton and the Billikens to ultimately end the season. 

Earlier that year, Pepkowski was awarded the Atlantic 10 Pitcher of the Year after recording a career-best 198 strikeouts, retiring a single-game high 17 batters vs. St. Bonaventure (April 13) and raking in four weekly awards. 

Jones returned to Rogers Park from Germany after gaining professional experience as both a player and coach with Guggenberger Legionäre. Jones was primarily involved in the development of the pitching staff both on and off the field while assisting with hitting and defense. She also gained valuable experience in coordinating camps, developing offseason workout programs, and implementing mental training.
 
Before resuming her playing career, Jones stayed involved in the sport by acting as the director of fastpitch at Elite Baseball Training in Chicago, where she had been coaching and managing teams as well as doing individual and group training. After finishing her master's degree in social work in 2020 and working as an addiction's therapist, Jones put her career on pause to get back to a sport that has been such a vital part of her life.
 
A native of Portage, Ind., the right-handed Jones graduated three years ago ranked second on the school's career chart for wins (60), innings pitched (664.0) and strikeouts (353). After notching 19 wins as a sophomore in 2017, Jones collected Second Team All-Missouri Valley Conference and Third Team National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) All-Midwest Region recognition, earning 17 wins, while compiling a 1.86 earned-run average.