That was news to West Jordan city planners, as well as the Utah Office of Education, which tracks accreditation for Utah's private schools.

West Jordan has no record of a business license necessary for USC to operate in the city, and the school is entering its second year of a three-year provisional accreditation, which requires state education officials to conduct annual site visits.

But USC's phones are disconnected, and state officials had not been informed of the school's new location as of Thursday.

"If there is a substantive change, we need to do a revisit, but we haven't been able to reach them," state accreditation officer Georgia Loutenstock said.

The school can still legally operate without accreditation, but students would not be able to transfer credits to other schools.

Jones said that he'll take care of the paperwork to secure a business license and maintain USC's accreditation. But he still faces the daunting task of converting 16,000 square feet of office space into a functioning school by early September.

As head coach, he also is preparing the school's football team for road games. They will leave Sept. 6 for Japan, then later for American Samoa.

The building identified as the school's future home at 3895 W. 7800 South is a new building with an unfinished interior, but Jones maintains the facility will be finished soon.

"If it's not ready, we have a provisional place to go for a couple weeks, but I don't think it will come to that," he said.

The team must go abroad to compete because the Utah High School Activities Association has repeatedly turned down Jones' petitions for admission. The ruling bars the team from playing member Utah schools as well as schools from other states because of reciprocal agreements among activities associations.

"They are playing technicalities," Jones said of UHSAA's stand. "They have a bias against private schools. They're making us go the extra mile."

That "extra mile," however, was anything but technical, according to the UHSAA. Jones failed to submit a plan outlining where his teams will practice and compete until he builds a campus and sports facilities proposed for Herriman or demonstrate that he has the town's blessing.

Despite the hard times that have fallen on his construction businesses, Jones said he still plans to build a campus for as many as 2,500 students. It would be built on 200 acres Jones hopes developer Dave Millheim will donate.

"We are supportive if they can get affairs in order," Millheim said last week.

Herriman Mayor Lynn Crane did not return a phone message.

bmaffly@sltrib.com