John Henry Jones Jr. (born March 30, 1961) is an American college basketball coach who is an assistant coach of the LSU Tigers basketball team. He was formerly the men's basketball head coach at Texas Southern, North Texas and at his alma mater LSU.
Playing career Jones played in the 1981 Final Four as a freshman at LSU, and later served 12 seasons as an assistant coach at LSU under Dale Brown where the pair returned to the 1986 Final Four.
Coaching career
Head coaching career
Memphis Jones was named interim head coach at the University of Memphis just prior to the 1999–2000 season, replacing Tic Price. He coached the team to a 15–16 record.
North Texas During Jones' stint at North Texas, he coached the Mean Green to five-straight 20-win seasons from 2007 to 2011, and two Sun Belt tournament championships and NCAA tournament bids. Under Jones, North Texas was just the third program to advance to three consecutive Sun Belt Tournament championship games.
LSU At LSU, Jones compiled a 90–72 (.556) overall record with a 42–48 (.467) SEC record in 5 seasons. He led LSU to one NCAA tournament berth during the 2014–15 season, losing to N.C. State in the opening round, and one NIT berth in 2013–14. Jones' team was invited to participate in the NIT in the 2016 season but the University stepped in and declined the offer.
Texas Southern Jones was named head basketball coach at Texas Southern on June 27, 2018.
Head coaching record
NCAA tournament Year School Record Winning % Notes 2007 North Texas 0–1 .000 Eliminated by No. 2 (Memphis Tigers) in NCAA First Round 2010 North Texas 0–1 .000 Eliminated by No. 2 (Kansas State Wildcats) in NCAA First Round 2015 LSU 0–1 .000 Eliminated by No. 8 (NC State Wolfpack) in NCAA Second Round 2021 Texas Southern 1–1 .500 Defeated No. 16 (Mount St. Mary's Mountaineers) in NCAA First Four, Eliminated by No. 1 (Michigan Wolverines) in NCAA First Round 2022 Texas Southern 1–1 .500 Defeated No. 16 (Texas A&M–Corpus Christi Islanders) in NCAA First Four, Eliminated by No. 1 (Kansas Jayhawks) in NCAA First Round 2023 Texas Southern 0–1 .000 Eliminated by No. 16 (Fairleigh Dickinson Knights) in NCAA First Four Totals 2–6 .250 3 NCAA First Four (Won 2), 4 NCAA First Round (Won 0), 1 NCAA Second Round (Won 0)
NIT tournament Year School Record Winning % Notes 2014 LSU 1–1 .500 Defeated (San Francisco Dons) in NIT First Round, Eliminated by (SMU Mustangs) in NIT Second Round Totals 1–1 .500 made 1 NIT Second Round (Won 0)
CIT tournament Year School Record Winning % Notes 2019 Texas Southern 3–1 .750 Defeated (New Orleans Privateers) in CIT First Round, Defeated (UTRGV Valley Vaqueros) in CIT Second Round, Defeated (Louisiana–Monroe) in CIT Quarterfinals, Eliminated by (Green Bay Phoenix) in CIT Semifinals 2024 Texas Southern 0–1 .000 Eliminated by (Tarleton State Texans) in CIT First Round Totals 3–2 .600 made 1 CIT Semifinals (Won 0)
Personal life Jones' son, John, is a college basketball player; he played as a walk-on for the Nevada Wolf Pack under his father during the 2017–18 season and transferred to the Texas Southern Tigers when his father was hired as head coach in 2018. Jones joined his father's coaching staff at Texas Southern as an assistant coach and director of player development in 2023.
References
External links LSU Tigers bio