Joseph Fernal Jones (born November 9, 1965) is the head coach of

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

's men's basketball team. He previously served as the head coach at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

and has worked as an assistant coach at

Hofstra University Hofstra University is a private university in Hempstead, New York. It is Long Island's largest private university. Hofstra originated in 1935 as an extension of New York University (NYU) under the name Nassau College – Hofstra Memorial of Ne ...

Villanova University Villanova University is a Private university, private Catholic church, Roman Catholic research university in Villanova, Pennsylvania. It was founded by the Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinians in 1842 and named after Thomas of Villanova, Sa ...

, and

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifie ...

.Joe Jones Accepts Associate Head Coaching Position at Boston College
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Early life and playing career

Jones was born in

Ronkonkoma, New York Ronkonkoma ( ) is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) on Long Island in the Town of Islip, New York, United States. Its population was 19,082 at the 2010 census. The Ronkonkoma post office has the ZIP Code 11779, and serves parts of seve ...

in 1965 and graduated from Half Hollow Hills West High School in

Dix Hills, New York Dix Hills is an affluent hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) on Long Island in the town of Huntington in Suffolk County, New York. The population was 26,892 at the 2010 census. In the past, Dix Hills and some of its neighbors have propos ...

in 1983. He was a four-year letter-winner at

SUNY Oswego State University of New York at Oswego (SUNY Oswego or Oswego State) is a public college in the City of Oswego and Town of Oswego, New York. It has two campuses: historic lakeside campus in Oswego and Metro Center in Syracuse, New York. SUN ...

, where he earned a bachelor's degree in communications in 1987 and a master's degree in counseling in 1989. He played point guard for the Lakers and currently ranks 4th in assists and 5th in steals in the school's history.

Coaching career

Jones began his coaching career serving as a guidance counselor and coach of the middle school boys basketball team at Comsewogue on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

. He would eventually take over as the head coach of the high school team for two years from 1993 to 1994. He joined Jay Wright's staff at

in 1994 and moved on to

three years later as an assistant to Steve Lappas. When Wright replaced Lappas at Villanova in 2001, Jones remained on the staff as the assistant responsible for recruiting, game scouting and on-court teaching.

Columbia University

Jones succeeded

Armond Hill Armond G. Hill (born March 31, 1953) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is Director of Basketball Administration for Indiana University men's basketball. He spent eight seasons in the NBA between 1976 and 1984, pl ...

as the head coach at

after the 2002–03 season, when Columbia finished 0–14 in the

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising eight private research universities in the Northeastern United States. The term ''Ivy League'' is typically used beyond the sports context to refer to the eight schools ...

, 2–25 overall. In his first season, the

Lions The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large cat of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphic; adult ...

finished 6–8 in the league, 10–17 overall – the third-best single-season improvement in conference history. In 2006–07, Jones led the Lions to a 7–7 Ivy League finish, their first .500 record since 1999–2000. Their 16–12 overall record was the team's best since 1992–93. Jones left Columbia with an 86–108 win–loss record over seven seasons.

Boston University

After leaving Columbia, Jones would serve as the associate head coach at

for one season before accepting the head coaching job at

. Prior to his second season as head coach at BU, it was announced that BU would be leaving the

America East Conference The America East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I founded in 1979, whose members are located in the Northeastern United States. The conference has nine core members including eight public research u ...

to join the

Patriot League The Patriot League is a collegiate athletic conference comprising private institutions of higher education and two United States service academies based in the Northeastern United States. Outside the Ivy League, it is among the most selective gr ...

on July 1, 2013. As a result of the move, the America East presidents unanimously voted to ban BU from postseason play in all America East sports for the 2012–2013 season. Despite their inability to win the conference championship and earn an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, Jones took the Terriers to his first-ever postseason as head coach when they played

Loyola University Maryland Loyola University Maryland is a private Jesuit university in Baltimore, Maryland. Established as Loyola College in Maryland by John Early and eight other members of the Society of Jesus in 1852, it is the ninth-oldest Jesuit college in the ...

in the first round of the CIT. In 2020, his 16th year as a head coach, Jones won his first conference tournament title when

defeated Colgate in the championship game of the Patriot League tournament. The victory earned him what would have been his first NCAA tournament appearance as a head coach, but the 2020 tournament was subsequently cancelled in the wake of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. Jones was named a finalist for the 2019–20

Ben Jobe Award The Ben Jobe National Coach of the Year Award is an award given annually to the most outstanding minority men's college basketball head coach in NCAA Division I competition. The award was established in 2010 and is named for head coach Ben Jobe, wh ...

Personal life

Jones' brother

James James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

is the head men's basketball coach at

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

. Jones provided commentary for the online halftime show during the

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

and

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

NCAA tournaments.

Head coaching record

References

External links

*
Boston University profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Joe 1965 births Living people African-American basketball coaches African-American basketball players American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from New York (state) Basketball players from New York (state) Boston College Eagles men's basketball coaches Boston University Terriers men's basketball coaches College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Columbia Lions men's basketball coaches High school basketball coaches in the United States Hofstra Pride men's basketball coaches Oswego Lakers men's basketball players People from Huntington, New York People from Ronkonkoma, New York Point guards Sportspeople from Suffolk County, New York Villanova Wildcats men's basketball coaches 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American sportspeople