The founder and the first coach of the SIUE softball program, Cindy Jones led the Cougars to the national tournament four times and collected 376 victories, including a second-place finish at the Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women Championships (AIAW) in 1982. Jones became the sixth SIUE Director of Athletics in 1988 and commanded SIUE's move to conference affiliation when the Cougars joined the Great Lakes Valley Conference in 1994.