Men's Golf
- Title:
- Assistant Coach
- Email:
- jhowell@ia.ua.edu
- Phone:
- 205-348-0383
Jon Howell, considered one of the top assistants in collegiate golf, begins his sixth season as assistant men’s golf coach at The University of Alabama in 2019-20.
Howell has made an immediate impact during his previous five seasons at The Capstone, both on and off the course. Most recently, Howell played an integral part in helping the Tide land three of the top-ranked recruiting classes in the nation in each of the last three years (2017, 2018 and 2019). Among the signees in the class of 2017 were two of the top five junior golfers in the country in Davis Shore and Wilson Furr – both of which competed on the 2016 Junior Ryder Cup team. His work on the recruiting trail also paid off with the 2018 class, as he helped sign two of the top-10 ranked junior golfers in the nation in Frankie Capan III and Prescott Butler.
In addition to the stellar signing classes in each of the last three seasons, Howell also played a role in the recruitment of former Alabama standouts Davis Riley and Lee Hodges, among others. Both Hodges and Riley were named PING Third Team All-Americans as seniors in 2018, while each were named First Team All-District and All-SEC as well.
On the course, Howell's hard work on the recruiting trail paid off as he helped head coach Jay Seawell guide Alabama to a runner-up finish at the 2018 NCAA Championships and the 2018 SEC Championships. It was the third consecutive year the Crimson Tide has reached the NCAA Championships after earning the bid in 2016 and 2017. Throughout the 2017-18 season, Alabama won four tournaments and was ranked as high as No. 1 in the nation – the highest the team has been ranked since winning the 2014 NCAA title.
Alongside Seawell, Howell coached All-Americans Robby Shelton (first team), Davis Riley (honorable mention in 2016 and third team in 2017) and Lee Hodges (third team in 2018), who each earned honors from PING and Golfweek. Riley became the first Alabama freshman to earn All-American honors since Shelton did so in 2014. In addition, Shelton, Riley and Tom Lovelady each earned first team All-District honors during the 2015-16 campaign.
In five years as an assistant at Alabama, Howell has helped the Tide to an NCAA runner-up finish (2018), three consecutive NCAA Championship appearances (2016-18), while coaching four All-Americans, six all-district performers and six All-SEC honorees.
Off the course, Howell has thrived in his duties as Director of the Alabama Golf Academy and the Crimson Tide Open. He also oversees alumni relations for the men's golf program.
In addition, his other coaching duties for the Crimson Tide include assisting Seawell in day-to-day operations of the program while also serving as the recruiting coordinator and assisting in player development.
“It's been great having Jon on board,” Seawell said. “He has done a fabulous job of developing and teaching young players as a PGA Professional. Jon is extremely valuable to our current players from an instruction standpoint and is a tremendous benefit on the recruiting trail as someone who really understands junior golf.”
Howell came to Tuscaloosa after serving nearly four years as the director of golf instruction at the Country Club of Jackson (Miss.), where he had a track record for developing some of the top junior players in the nation.
A member of the PGA of America, Howell attended Mississippi State’s professional golf management program, graduating in 2010.
When he was hired, Howell became the fourth assistant coach in as many years for the Crimson Tide with each prior assistant landing a head coaching job. Former Tide assistant Mike McGraw replaced Rob Bradley, who was named the head coach at Purdue following the Crimson Tide’s 2013 NCAA Championship victory. Bradley had replaced Scott Limbaugh, who took over the Vanderbilt program in the summer of 2012, after Alabama’s NCAA runner-up finish.
Howell is married to the former Kay Nobles and the couple has a daughter, Sadie.
