The bright side
Jones took plenty of positives from a lost season
Scott Drew, Mark Few, Kelvin Sampson and Mick Cronin weren’t the only coaches at this year’s Final Four in Indianapolis.
James Jones was there, too. No, Jones hadn’t led Yale on a miracle run. In fact, like all Ivy League programs, Yale didn’t play basketball (or any other sport) at all this past school year.
But Jones is not only the winningest coach in Yale men’s basketball history. He’s also a true basketball fan.
“I may be the only head coach in the country that flew out to Indy to watch those games,” Jones noted in a Hearst Connecticut Media podcast. “I can’t go to sleep until the ‘One Shining Moment’ video plays.”
Jones’s teams have been featured in that video a couple of times in recent years, including in 2016 after upsetting Baylor in the NCAA tournament’s first round.
The Bulldogs may very well have been featured again in 2020, after winning the Ivy League regularseason title, but the tourney was canceled. And they could very well have been in there again this April, as preseason favorites to win the Ivy. Alas, COVID-19 reared its ugly head on the entire league. A devastating blow for Yale? “I’m not certain,” Jones insisted, “just because of what you might have had to go through. In hindsight, you can say, ‘Yeah, it would have been great to play.’ But, would it have been great to have been on pause, then have to play a day after coming off pause? Would it have been great to play a game without Azar Swain and Paul Atkinson because they had COVID? You never know what it was gonna bring to you.”
“The one thing I didn’t want to do,” Jones continued, “is lose a game I should have won because of COVID. I have no hair, haven’t had hair for about 30 years. If I had to lose a game because of COVID, I’d be pulling out my scalp, because I have no hair.”
In truth, the cancellation of the 2020 tournament may have been a bigger blow to Jones. His brother, Joe, had also qualified for the tour
ney as head coach at Boston University. It would have been a great point of pride for Jones’ father, Herman, to see his sons coaching in the same NCAA tournament (their mother, Edna, passed away in 2010).
“It was gonna be great for our dad to kind of peacock around from gym to gym, watch his boys play,” James noted. “That’s sad for me to have to have dealt with that. But, it is what it is, and hopefully we’ll have another opportunity down the road.”
No question, the Bulldogs could be in the tourney mix once again next season. While many Ivy teams lost key players to transfer once the season was canceled, Yale will have 11 players from this past season’s roster back for 2021-22. A big reason for that is because many players opted out of school this past year to take a leave of absence, in order to avoid losing a year of eligibility, including four seniors.
Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, the one senior that won’t be returning is Paul Atkinson, the reigning Ivy Player of the Year who will play at Notre Dame next season as a grad transfer.
Typically, the Ivy League doesn’t allow graduate students to play. But the league changed its policy for next season due to COVID-19, and one Bulldog senior, Wyatt Yess, will take advantage.
“If the Ivy League had made the decision to allow graduate students to play back in September, which they couldn’t foresee, I suspect Paul would have been back, as well,” Jones
bemoaned. “But, it is what it is. We’ll have to lace ’em up without him. He’s one of my favorite people of all time. I’ll certainly miss him as a person, as much as I’ll miss him as a player next year.”
‘THIS PANDEMIC ADDED YEARS ON MY CAREER’
The year off from school actually served as somewhat of a boon to many of Jones’s players. Senior Jalen Gabbidon interned with a start-up company and recently told Jones he was “so happy I suggested it to him, because this year has been life-changing for him.”
Other players interned with investment real estate firms and an import/export business on Long Island.
“All of my guys have had some great opportunities,” Jones noted, “and we hope they’re gonna be better for this year off.”
In February, Jones served as an assistant coach for the USA Basketball AmeriCup qualifying team in San Juan, Puerto Rico, coaching
players like Joe Johnson, Isaiah Thomas and former UConn star Josh Boone.
“It’s wonderful to represent your country in that capacity, and learn from other coaches,” Jones said. “It was all good. I had a really great time.”
Jones has also held frequent Zoom calls with his players and staff to talk about things going on in the world, particularly issues like diversity and inclusion. They were difficult conversations that Jones at first was reluctant to engage, until a team poll revealed every player felt there were positive things that would come out of it.
Conversations included the experiences that African-Americans, AsianAmericans, women and transgendered people are dealing with in today’s society.
“We just want to make sure our guys are aware,” Jones noted. “One of the great things about Yale, when you come to school here, you’ll have an opportunity to interact with people from all walks of life — if you choose to. If you do, you’ll be impacted, one way or another, for the rest of your life.”
And for Jones, the subject matter is personal.
“I have to worry about my son and daughter getting in the car and driving at night,” he said. “I have to worry about every player on my team, and their families, their brothers and sisters, getting in the car and driving at night. My hope is, my children and my players won’t have to worry about their children. The only way we can do that is try to educate and interact a little more, so we understand each other. Because ignorance, in my mind, is the only reason this occurs.”
A lost season for James Jones and the Yale men’s basketball team? Hardly. Plenty was learned by players and coaches alike. Now, they can only hope they’ll be able to return to play next winter.
With virus numbers seemingly going down and vaccinations up, Jones believes there will be an Ivy League season.
“I’m looking forward to it,” he said. “This pandemic has added years on my career. I don’t know if they want me around this long, but it’s added some years on my career, because I feel invigorated. I feel excited again. Not that I wasn’t, but you’re just itching now, because something was taken away from you that you love so much — to be able to get back and be with my guys on a daily basis and experience all the joys and downfalls of college basketball.”