LORMAN — Ernest Jones’ attorneys say he will appeal his termination from Alcorn State, but they are not quite sure who to appeal to yet.

The university announced Tuesday night that Jones was fired as head football coach, and his termination was official Wednesday morning.

Jones, who has repeatedly stated his desire to remain head coach, still wants his job back, but there are specific steps to be taken.

“Right now a lot of it has to do with how they’re classifying Ernest, whether they consider him staff or faculty,” said Ian Guerin, a spokesman for attorney Ricky Lefft. “We have to do everything by the book.”

Guerin said the first move is to appeal to the Mississippi Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning, the governing body over personnel matters regarding faculty.

“It will be an appeal of the due process hearing that Ernest had to go through at the university,” Guerin said.

Jones’ lawyers allege the 12-hour due process hearing on Jan. 16 was biased and unfair based on the three-person committee seated to judge the hearing.

They also said Alcorn President George Ross — who they said was the final decision maker in the hearing — was not impartial.

“How are you going to remain impartial to a decision when you yourself (Ross) sat down with the coach on Dec. 8 and told him of your intent to fire him?” Guerin said. “If it had come back to him deadlocked, everybody knew where this thing was going.”

The IHL only presides over faculty matters. If the board decides Jones was a staff member and not a member of the faculty, the issue will go to court.

But Guerin said Jones will exhaust every option available to get his job back.

“We will follow everything to a ‘T,’” he said. “If we skip a step, we potentially blow Ernest’s chances of getting his job back.”

Guerin would not name who was on the panel in the due process hearing or what the specific charges were against Jones, although an official statement released Tuesday by Alcorn says Jones was fired for “malfeasance and contumacious conduct.”

The charge of contumacious conduct indicates disobedience or embarrassment of the athletic program.

Guerin alleges Jones was not allowed to cross-examine witnesses brought against him by the university, nor was he allowed to object to any information brought forth.

“There are a number of things they brought up,” Guerin said. “Nothing that he did was against the law, nothing he did was not commonplace among football coaches or for the coaching position at Alcorn. He was doing things his predecessor had done, things the university had signed off on.”

Ross could not be reached for comment Thursday but said Wednesday that a search for a new head coach would begin almost immediately.

He said an interim coach would be named soon.

Jones was initially told of the university’s intent to fire him three days after he filed a $3 million lawsuit to reinstate seven assistant football coaches fired by Athletic Director Darren Hamilton.

Ross reinstated the coaches in a meeting the same day Jones said he was fired.

The due process hearing was to determine whether Alcorn could fire Jones for cause, allowing them not to pay him the final two years of his three-year, $140,000 contract.

But Guerin and Jones’ lawsuit both allege the contract was not what Jones had originally agreed upon.

“Ernest was originally offered the job in 2007, and at that time the only paperwork he presented was an intent-to-hire form,” Guerin said. “His official contract with the university is something he did not sign until on or about Aug. 11. At that time he was given a contract that was not up to the original standards upon which he and Dr. Ross had agreed. It was a very hurriedly put together contract.

“At that time Ernest was told if he did not sign it, he would not be able to coach the team. So he signed the thing under duress, but it’s not what Ricky Lefft had negotiated for Ernest.”

Jones continued to recruit while his job was in limbo.

But Guerin said while Jones still wants the Braves to be successful, he thinks it’s best not to perform his duties as a coach right now.

“I would assume at this point we have to go through the process and do it the right way as far as the university is concerned,” Guerin said. “Our goal is to get Ernest back at his desk as coach at Alcorn.”