Yale’s Jones in St. John’s mix
James Jones has had unprecedented success in his 20 years as Yale men’s basketball head coach. Yet for some reason, he has rarely been approached by other schools looking to fill a vacancy.
There were talks with Fordham a few years ago, and a few inquiries from other smaller programs over the years, but never any real feelers from high-major Division 1 programs. Until now.
Jones has interviewed for the St. John’s job that was recently vacated by Chris Mullin. He had yet to be offered the job as of Wednesday, according to Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv.
Loyola-Chicago coach Porter Moser turned down an offer to replace Mullin on Tuesday, and UMBC coach Ryan Odom seemed to back out of the running on Wednesday. Iona coach Tim Cluess has also interviewed for the job and appeared to be the leader in the clubhouse until Moser was offered the job earlier this week. Rick Pitino has publicly clamored for the job (not happening), and more recently campaigned for former Johnnies great Mark Jackson to get it.
Jones may not generate the same kind of buzz, but there’s little reason to think he isn’t as qualified as most of the other candidates. Jones, 55, is the longesttenured and winningest coach in Yale history. He’s led the Bulldogs to a pair of Ivy League titles and NCAA tournament appearances over the past four seasons; the program hadn’t been to the Big Dance since 1962.
Even more impressive has been Jones’ consistency: since his second season on the job in 200001, Yale has finished at least fourth in the Ivy League every year.
Jones has made it a point to put together a challenging non-conference schedule in recent years, and the Bulldogs have lived up to the challenge. They beat Cal to start this past season in China, and later beat Miami in Miami. They opened the
2017-18 season winning on the road at Washington, beat Baylor in the 2016 NCAA tourney and battled Duke into the final seconds in the second round. Yale’s
2018-19 season ended with a five-point loss to ultratalented LSU in the first round of the NCAA tourney. Recruiting? Jones has attracted several top-notch players to Yale in recent years. Current talented junior Jordan Bruner chose Yale over Clemson and South Carolina.
Or maybe all one has to know is that two players Jones recruited to Yale, Miye Oni and Makai Mason, could very well be selected in the the 2019 NBA draft.
Cluess still appears to be the top choice, and given the St. John’s roster situation, which is in flux right now following Mullins’ departure, it’s possible Jones might not even want the job. Attempts to reach Jones on Wednesday were unsuccessful.
Still, St. John’s could do a lot worse in its next hire than James Jones.