Eight-year coaching veteran and former NFL tight end Joe Jon Finley has been named the Texas A&M tight ends coach, head coach Jimbo Fisher announced. Finley joins the Aggie staff after spending the last three years in a similar role at Missouri.
During his time with the Tigers, tight ends have blossomed under his tutelage as Albert Okwuegbunam was named a 2018 John Mackey Award finalist after recording 43 receptions for 466 yards and six touchdowns. In 2017, Okwuegbunam earned second-team All-SEC honors as well as SEC All-Freshman Team honors after hauling in 11 touchdowns, the highest total by a FBS tight end and most among all freshmen at any position.
Finley’s tight ends group caught 15 touchdown passes in 2017, the highest among all FBS teams. While their receiving talents were on display, Finley’s group played a pivotal role in the Missouri offense gaining just under 200 rushing yards a game.
Finley joined the Mizzou staff after spending the 2015 season as an assistant director of football operations and offensive quality control analyst at Baylor. Prior to his one-year stint in Waco, Finley was the offensive line coach and strength and conditioning coordinator at Los Fresnos (Texas) High School.
He spent the 2012 and 2013 seasons as an offensive graduate assistant at his alma mater, Oklahoma, in which the Sooners advanced to the Cotton and Sugar Bowl. He began his coaching career as the offensive line coach at Los Fresnos High School in 2011.
After graduating from Oklahoma in 2008, Finley spent parts of five seasons in the NFL with the San Francisco 49ers (2008-10), Detroit Lions (2010-11) and Carolina Panthers (2012).
A standout tight end for the Sooners, Finley was a four-year letterman and was a member of three Big 12 championship squads in 2004, 2006 and 2007. For his career, he totaled 775 yards and 10 touchdowns in 62 career receptions in 50 games. He caught his first touchdown pass against Texas A&M in Kyle Field in 2004. He earned All-Big 12 honorable mention accolades as a junior and senior.
Finley played high school football at Arlington (Texas) High School under his father, Mickey, from 1999-2002, where he threw for 1,626 yards and 12 touchdowns and ran for 897 yards and nine touchdowns as a senior quarterback.
Joe Jon and his wife, Caylee, have a daughter, Blakely, and a son, Knox.
