Johnny Jones

Johnny Jones is an American former basketball player and current head coach of the Texas Southern Tigers basketball team. Prior to this, Jones was head coach of the men’s basketball team at North Texas and at his alma mater LSU, for the Tigers men’s basketball team.

Jones made headlines playing in the 1981 Final Four as a freshman at LSU. He continued to make waves, serving 12 seasons as an assistant coach at LSU under Dale Brown, where the duo returned in the 1986 Final Four. Jones subsequently stepped up to interim head coach position at the University of Memphis ahead of the 1999-2000 season, where he coached the team to a close 15-16 record. Following this, Jones switched to coaching at North Texas, leading the Mean Green to five-straight 20-win seasons from 2007-11, alongside two Sun Belt tournament championships and NCAA tournament bids. Jones later coached the Tigers at LSU, leading the team to a NCCA tournament during the 2014-15 season. His 90 wins is the most won by any LSU head coach in their first five years on the job. With his time spent as a player, assistant coach and head coach combined, Jones has been a part of almost 700 games played by the LSU basketball program. Most recently, he went on to join the team at Texas Southern as head coach in 2018, where he continues to lead the team.

On and off the court, Jones has strong values about teamwork and family – making this a mantra in both his professional and personal life. He also has a strong presence in the community, going out of his way to support numerous charities and speaking to alumni, foundation groups and youth organisations that encourage taking up sports from a young age.