Coach's Texas Southern team getting the win in the NCAA play in game to get the tournament started. Kansas up next.

Great coaching job using his bench players.

I told a friend today that I would not have minded had we kept Johnny as coach....but you couldn't pass on Cal, regardless of how we all feel about him today, at the time that was a no brainer.

(03-15-2022 10:42 PM)gotigers1 Wrote:  I told a friend today that I would not have minded had we kept Johnny as coach....but you couldn't pass on Cal, regardless of how we all feel about him today, at the time that was a no brainer.

Jones did a good job here. If Cal to Memphis weren’t the worst-kept secret in all of college basketball at the time; I would have definitely been for giving him a run. I don’t know that we would have hit 2008 highs, but we wouldn’t have hit Tic Price lows either.

I like Jones as a person and respect what he has done.

I don't think his run here at Memphis would have been significantly better than Pastner's.

I remember that a significant number of Rebounders wanted to retain Johnny Jones as our coach, rather than hire Calapari. As I recall, there was enough hostility that Cal toyed with the idea of disbanding the Rebounders and doing something different as a booster group. Thankfully, cooler heads prevailed and things worked out OK.

I remember later bumping into Coach Jones in the airport in NYC after we had played in the NIT. He was an Alabama assistant at that time and they had been in the NIT as well.

My two favorite memories of Johnny:

1) I once saw him at the Half Shell and asked him if he was recruiting Taurean "T-Head" Moy. His response was, "man that kid is so dumb, he couldn't get into Sunday School."

2) We were playing a low level team and with about a minute to go, one of the bench guys took a shot. The opponent's coach yelled at Johnny about the player shooting and Johnny yelled back: "You tell your team to quit pressing then I'll tell mine to quit shooting."

Jones was loved by a certain group. I never saw it (15-16 season). LSU ultimately came to the same conclusion. He would get some players and have a 17-13 record. We try to do better.

(03-16-2022 08:49 AM)salukiblue Wrote:  My two favorite memories of Johnny:

1) I once saw him at the Half Shell and asked him if he was recruiting Taurean "T-Head" Moy. His response was, "man that kid is so dumb, he couldn't get into Sunday School."

2) We were playing a low level team and with about a minute to go, one of the bench guys took a shot. The opponent's coach yelled at Johnny about the player shooting and Johnny yelled back: "You tell your team to quit pressing then I'll tell mine to quit shooting."

That first story is awesome.

(03-16-2022 06:08 PM)72Tiger Wrote:  

(03-16-2022 08:49 AM)salukiblue Wrote:  My two favorite memories of Johnny:

1) I once saw him at the Half Shell and asked him if he was recruiting Taurean "T-Head" Moy. His response was, "man that kid is so dumb, he couldn't get into Sunday School."

2) We were playing a low level team and with about a minute to go, one of the bench guys took a shot. The opponent's coach yelled at Johnny about the player shooting and Johnny yelled back: "You tell your team to quit pressing then I'll tell mine to quit shooting."

That first story is awesome.

the 2nd story is very Jimmy Johnson-esque

(03-16-2022 08:51 AM)Tiger87 Wrote:  Jones was loved by a certain group. I never saw it (15-16 season). LSU ultimately came to the same conclusion. He would get some players and have a 17-13 record. We try to do better.

Oh, he certainly wouldn’t still be here. I think the “middling” would have caught up to him, like it has in his other spots. Someone else said it wouldn’t have been any better than the Pastner era…and that I can’t argue with.

But, given what he took over from Tic at the last minute, I wouldn’t have been surprised to see him get a chance, except for Cal coming.

(03-16-2022 12:48 AM)99Tiger Wrote:  

(03-15-2022 10:42 PM)gotigers1 Wrote:  I told a friend today that I would not have minded had we kept Johnny as coach....but you couldn't pass on Cal, regardless of how we all feel about him today, at the time that was a no brainer.

Jones did a good job here. If Cal to Memphis weren’t the worst-kept secret in all of college basketball at the time; I would have definitely been for giving him a run. I don’t know that we would have hit 2008 highs, but we wouldn’t have hit Tic Price lows either.

I totally agree with this

(03-16-2022 09:46 PM)gotigers1 Wrote:  

(03-16-2022 12:48 AM)99Tiger Wrote:  

(03-15-2022 10:42 PM)gotigers1 Wrote:  I told a friend today that I would not have minded had we kept Johnny as coach....but you couldn't pass on Cal, regardless of how we all feel about him today, at the time that was a no brainer.

Jones did a good job here. If Cal to Memphis weren’t the worst-kept secret in all of college basketball at the time; I would have definitely been for giving him a run. I don’t know that we would have hit 2008 highs, but we wouldn’t have hit Tic Price lows either.

I totally agree with this

Cal only hit 2008 highs because WW Wes was getting him players like Derrick Rose, Evans etc . Of course Jones wouldn't get those level players here

(03-15-2022 10:42 PM)gotigers1 Wrote:  I told a friend today that I would not have minded had we kept Johnny as coach....but you couldn't pass on Cal, regardless of how we all feel about him today, at the time that was a no brainer.

I ran into Johnny a few times on the North Texas campus. My wife hosted a college career day out there for a few years. Really nice guy.