A mutual love for the game of basketball has helped Texas Southern University men’s basketball coach Johnny Jones and his son John build a special bond both on and off the court.
John Jones’ earliest memories revolved around the sport, from playing in youth leagues to watching his father mold and develop players during various coaching stops at Memphis, North Texas, LSU and now Texas Southern.
Both father and son competed as collegiate athletes – Johnny Jones at LSU and John Jones under his father at Texas Southern. When the younger Jones’ collegiate playing career ended in 2022, he weighed several options for pursuing an overseas career. Then his father gave him the same opportunity Johnny Jones had 20 years prior: become a graduate assistant and pursue collegiate coaching.
“I didn’t see myself coaching with him,” John Jones said. “As I got older, it was kind of like, ‘I could probably try to give this little coaching thing a try.’ ”
After spending the 2022-23 season as a graduate assistant, he was promoted to assistant coach and director of player development for the 2023-24 season.
“It’s a little passion of mine, so I just thank him for allowing me to actually have the opportunity,” he said. “A lot of people want to coach here and coach with him because they know the type of coach that he is, so I’m just thankful to be able to be around it.”
John Jones has been a part of three Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) tournament championships, winning two as a player for the Tigers in 2021 and 2022, and a third in 2023 as a member of his father’s coaching staff.
In honor of Father’s Day, Andscape spoke with the Joneses about their coaching dynamic and the values and lessons they want to impart on their players.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Describe the transition of adding your son to the coaching staff and the adjustments you had to make.
Johnny Jones: We’re in a small fraternity, so to speak, in terms of father-son duos in the coaching profession. It’s something that I cherish and thank obviously God for because it’s a huge blessing. It was one of those situations where he followed a similar path that I did right after playing. I started working as a graduate assistant. The opportunity presented itself for him to come on board as a full-time guy. I wanted to give him an opportunity to venture into coaching and see if it was something that he would like, and he became very passionate about it. He’s resourceful and extremely smart. He’s got a high basketball IQ and a personality that allows him to be able to interact and still get along with the players and teammates.
John Jones: I look at it kind of like a big brother role. I am your coach, but I’m realistic. I know they see me, and they know I’m young. They know my dad is the coach. So I can’t go in there with a stern attitude. I kind of have to work my way up until the perception is maybe different.
I just kind of try to lead them down the right path. Tell them that I’ve been there. I know what you’re feeling – I’m not too far removed. I know my dad better than anybody. When he’s talking to you like this, he’s trying to get you to do this. We’ve got to push you this way to make you into the best player that we can. That’s our whole goal here. So for me, it’s really just moreso about connecting with them and then being their coach.
How do you navigate the challenges that arise when you’re working together?
John Jones: I think the best way to do it is just head-on – we’re both men. You both know the elephant in the room or if there’s a problem. Beating around the bush is gonna prolong it. So if you just address it head-on and get it out in the open, you talk about it and discuss it. We agree to disagree, whatever it is. It’s business at the end of the day. I don’t think we take anything home. We’re two competitors, and I think we just both realized at the end of the day, we are working together, father and son.
Johnny Jones: We can agree to disagree at times, and that’s perfectly great because that’s what I offer for my staff. If everybody thought the same way, you wouldn’t need everybody else around. So I always welcome suggestions. The beauty of it is that my assistants understand, just like John, they get an opportunity to make suggestions. I make decisions at the end of the day, and when that is embraced the right way it makes it a lot easier.
The big thing is we don’t ever try to bring work home to where we’ve got to be engaged. But basketball has been my life outside of my family. So it’s not like I hide or shy away from it, but I do know how to navigate it at home to really keep the peace and not be upsetting because my wife is not real big on me bringing that type of energy home.
What are some of the rewarding aspects of coaching together?
Johnny Jones: The biggest deal is just having an opportunity to see him every day in practice. It’s something that I didn’t get an opportunity to do with him coming up. Didn’t get a chance to coach him in elementary school, junior high, high school because I was a Division I basketball coach. So I couldn’t really partake in a lot of the things that he was doing, outside of working with him on weekends when he would come up to practice. So having an opportunity to be the head basketball coach and having the chance to coach and watch him play, see him climb up those ladders and cut nets, see hanging banners and getting championship rings together as coach is full circle. The first year that he was with us and hung up his uniform, having a chance to win the SWAC championship – it was special to look around and see him standing there and that we’d won a championship together, not only as a player but him serving as an assistant as well.
John Jones: Doing anything with somebody in your family or somebody that you can share the excitement with is always rewarding. You can go home and talk about it. It just means a little different when it is your own blood. He’s been my coach since 2017, so I’ve seen him as a coach, but he’s still my dad. It’ll probably hit me more if I’m ever coaching somebody else. I’ll be like, “Man, this feels different.” I enjoy winning. It’s cool celebrating with my dad, but I’m probably not gonna hug you as tight, probably not gonna talk to you about it as much. So it’ll probably hit differently in the future. Right now, that’s all I know. Down the line, I’ll be able to look back and be like, “Man, those were special times.”
In what ways do you think coaching together helps your program have success?
Johnny Jones: The good thing is he’s been around long enough – and especially in league play – he knows the scouting reports, what each team’s strengths and weaknesses are. He’s quick to be able to point things out. He understands other programs’ strengths and weaknesses, things that we like to attack.
John Jones: You get a slight advantage, I think, moreso because I played for him. Some of the coaches, they kind of remember me from playing, too. So it’s kind of like we’re double the trouble now because I remember playing against other coaches, hearing about all your stuff. We’re gonna talk about it. We’re gonna have you scouted up. We know what each other’s thinking. So if I see that something’s going on that he just probably hadn’t said to the team yet, I can go up there and remind them during the timeout that this needs to happen, and then once we implement that, we can just build on it.
I can usually help whisper in his ear, get his attention, because I know what he’s thinking most times. I think he also knows what I’m thinking most times. We both usually agree on what should and could be done to help improve or make a positive impact on our team during the game or in practice.
In what ways has John grown as a coach throughout his time at Texas Southern?
John Jones: Under my dad, I think he’s had me watch a lot more basketball. I feel like I did learn from playing until I watched and I learned a lot more and saw how important and hard X’s and O’s are. But if you don’t run at the right pace, the right speed, then it can mess up the whole play.
Also the importance of rebounding did not stand out to me until I was a basketball coach. Watching film after the game, dissecting it, scouting reports are really a big thing that’s helped me kind of grow in my basketball IQ. So just really kind of being a coach and just having them mentor me and push me in the right direction, I’ve been able to build some great habits as a coach.
Johnny Jones: The good thing for me is I’ve always had a lot of experience around me. Bringing John on board was obviously new, and it was great for me. One of the things that keeps me energized is the fact that I want to make sure that John’s grasping everything that he needs. I’m putting everything out there in front of him, showing him how things need to be done and then turning him loose, allowing him to do scouting reports and his skill development. So to be able to sit and watch that and still be involved in a sense, I think it helps. He’s making some strong steps, and he adapted things as well from just watching other coaches.
What are some coaching goals the two of you have set?
John Jones: Winning! That’s the main thing.
Johnny Jones: Winning is a key component to what we do. But we don’t only stop there. You know, our deal is the full goal for our student-athletes. We want to make sure that our guys grow academically, athletically, spiritually and socially in those four years. And we feel like if we accomplish that, when people leave out of our program we’ve succeeded. Pretty much every kid that we’ve had come into the program that exhausted the eligibility here and finished playing has walked across the stage with a degree in hand. It’s not just winning on the basketball floor but winning off of it as well.