Tennessee State Coach Is Big Winner on NBC-TV Game Show

Tracee Jones, the head women’s basketball coach at Tennessee State University, the historically black educational institution in Nashville, earns $75,000 a year. But recently Jones made a financial windfall by winning $265,000 on the NBC-TV game show Deal or No Deal. Jones said that she planned to buy a new car with her winnings, take a vacation with her family, and make a donation to Tennessee State.

Jones, a native of Belleville, Illinois, is a 1998 magna cum laude graduate of Tennessee State with a bachelor’s degree in English. She later earned a master’s degree in education from the university.

Prior to joining the Tennessee State coaching staff in 2002, she coached at Chicago State University and Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio.