JAMES AND JOE JONES
Keepin’ up with the Joneses, never seemed less possible…less doable.
On the other hand, when the bar is raised as high as the Joneses have raised it, it gives you something to shoot for.
The moon.
The stars.
To accomplish what the Joneses have, is little short of intergalactic.
James Jones will be 57 on February 20.
His little brother Joe will turn 56 in November.
Pretty nearly the definition of “Irish twins.”
Not quite 21 months apart, in this case.
Makes for plenty of competition in the household, growing up.
And after.
These gentlemen have not found the cure for cancer, nor have they figured out a way to sweep the pandemic off the face of the planet with a snap of their fingers.
They have played, and now coach basketball.
That is all.
And certainly as a reflection of their upbringing, they love and respect one another, to the nth degree.
But they both want to win.
Fiercely.
Especially when they face each other.
Their rivalry was born on an asphalt basketball court in a park near their home on Long Island.
Sometimes, the other kids from their Dix Hills, NY neighborhood would show, and ball with the Joneses, but mostly it was one-on-one, brother vs. brother, mano a mano.
Decades after the fact, the lines of truth become blurred; every jumper was hit, and all lay-ups were contested, some swatted.
Indisputable, was the fact that there was plenty of trash-talking.
As to the question of who won the majority of these pick-up battles, the brothers’ recollections are at odds.
“I’d usually win,” invariably chimed in younger brother Joe.
To which James would calmly counter, “C’mon man, that’s a silly question. I’d always kick butt.”
When Joe Jones was hired to resurrect the Columbia University men’s basketball program, succeeding Armond Hill after the 2002-’03 campaign, when the Lions finished 0–14 In Ivy play and 2–25 overall, it would be mano a mano redux.
And despite the playful disagreements with his younger brother over who, exactly, won those one-on-one games from their youth, James Jones heartily endorsed Columbia’s selection.
“He’s a great choice and he’s going to do wonderfully,” the elder remarked, bursting with pride, about the younger.
“That’s because he’s enthusiastic and passionate, the same recipe for success that I have.”
“As proof,” he continued, “look at how Joe’s already made super strides, in terms of recruiting and fundamentals.
And he’s only been on the job for a few months.”
To secure the post with the Lions, Joe Jones had to beat out an impressive slate of approximately 80 candidates, some of whom had considerably larger national profiles than he, including Knicks coaching associate Mike Malone, former Duke superstar Bobby Hurley and even NBA Hall-of-Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
AD John Reeves said at the time, “I was astounded by the quality of the pool of people who applied, but Jones’ enthusiasm, his honesty and his track record for recruiting while he was an assistant at Hofstra and Villanova gave him the advantage.”
As for Jones, he vividly recalled the moment, and also the joy he felt when advised of his selection.
“When I learned that I got the job — I remember exactly when, it was April 18 at 9:30 in the morning — I was ecstatic.
It was one of the great moments of my life. I felt lucky to be here.”
About facing his older brother on the opposing bench twice a season, he offered at the time, “Oh, the games will be for bragging rights, just like the old pick-up games. We’ll be too competitive to savor it now, but in the years to come, it’ll be a special thing for us…
Well, it’ll be special if we win.”
James Jones is The Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach of men’s basketball at Yale University, now in his 22nd season at the helm.
He is the all-time winningest men’s basketball coach at Yale and one of the most successful in Ivy League history.
The longest tenured coach in the league, he has 333 career victories — the second most in Ivy league history behind Princeton’s Pete Carril (514) — and his 180 Ivy wins are the third most in Ivy annals, behind Carril and Penn’s Fran Dunphy.
Jones has guided the Bulldogs to five Ivy championships — 2002, Yale’s first in 40 years; 2015; 2016; 2019; 2020 — and three NCAA Tournament berths in 2016, 2019 and 2020.
He has six career postseason appearances on his resume — in the 2002 NIT, Yale’s opening round victory over Rutgers (67–65) was the first postseason tournament win in the program’s 107-year-history — and his .612 winning percentage in Ivy contests is by far, the highest in school history.
The 2019 recipient of the Ben Jobe Award as the top minority coach in Division I men’s basketball, James Jones has presided over the most successful era in the long history of Yale Basketball.
The program has been on a sustained and impressive roll of late.
Over the last six seasons, Yale has a stellar 63–21 Ivy record.
During that stretch, the Bulldogs have won four league titles and earned three NCAA Tournament berths, including notching the first NCAA tourney victory in school history.
Jones, a 2015 inductee into the New England Basketball Hall of Fame, is a three-time Ivy League Coach of the Year (2015; 2016; 2020) and also has been selected as the NABC District 13 Coach of the Year on three occasions.
The legacy he’s crafting will only serve to motivate his brother and spur him to greater heights.
After seven years as the head man at Columbia (2003-’10; 86–108 .443) Joe Jones spent a year as associate head coach at Boston College in 2010 before taking the reins as head coach at crosstown Boston University in 2011.
Currently in his tenth season with the Terriers, his teams have won the 2014 Patriot League regular season title as well as the 2020 Patriot League Tournament title, defeating Colgate in the championship final.
That victory would have earned Jones his first NCAA Tournament appearance as a head coach, but March Madness was usurped by the horror of COVID-19.
A finalist for the 2019-’20 Ben Jobe Award (won by Damon Stoudimire of the University of the Pacific), Joe Jones has compiled a 162–139 .538 record at BU, including an impressive 103–65 .613 conference mark.
Overall as a head coach, his record stands at 248–247 .501.
That’s 581 wins between the brothers.
And although the two haven’t manned opposing benches as head coaches in a regular season game since Joe left Columbia, they did meet most recently in the 2018 Reese’s College All-Star Game during that Final Four weekend at the Alamodome.
Joe led the West squad to a 98–94 victory over James’ East unit.
Think he let big brother James hear about it…just a little?
[Editor’s Note: This piece was written by Mr. Kaplan in February 2021.]
