James Jones - Next Coach (oh boy)?

Can't believe I am saying this. I would actually rather GSJ and a strong staff than Jones. Talk about a reach candidate.
 
Last edited:
I don't personally think that JJ is the right fit, but as I have said before I will support the coach and the team. I cannot fathom how this administration stays intact though. I am not even an alumnus, just a loyal guy born and raised on redmen tradition by a die-hard alumni, who braved snowstorms and rush hour traffic to get to every home game, and I am embarrassed.
 
[quote="MJDinkins" post=344057][quote="Andrew" post=344055]I can't get excited by James Jones either but I know we would be getting a decent human being.[/quote]

Ditto.[/quote] Ugh this reeks of Norm 2.0. Decent human being but an awful hire.
 
How is simply getting an auto bid last year in a terrible conference (with only 8 non-scholarship teams) acceptable? This is recency bias to the extreme. Some of the idiots in charge thrive on this fallacy (see: Moser rather than Cluess). Yes, he made the Tournament twice in four years but that isn't so hot when you realize it's also twice in TWENTY YEARS.

The Ivy League only has 8 teams, so on average a coach would make the Tournament 2.5 times over a 20 year period. During the course of his career he is a below average (2 Tournament appearances in 20 years) Ivy League coach.

Maybe he is starting to turn things around, who knows? Maybe he is the best person remaining still willing to take this joke of a job. Maybe he ends up being a solid coach for us. But nobody can sell me on his resume. It is garbage.

I'll just say this: someone HAS to win these awful conferences. There are nearly 30 of them. The Ivy is one of the easiest to win. The fact that we can't even find someone capable of putting together a solid resume in a garbage conference is astonishing.
 
Last edited:
[quote="JohnnyFan" post=344059]Can't believe I am saying this. I would actually rather GSJ and a strong staff than Jones. Talk about a reach candidate.[/quote]

Really? Why?
I agree he's far from the dream candidate, but he turned around the Yale program, he's had 2 NCAA Tourney appearances in the last 4 years, won an NCAA Tourney game in one of those, has recruited 2 kids who will be in this year's NBA draft. He's from Long Island, seems to have a great work ethic, brother is also a D1 basketball coach.

What does GSJ have that he doesn't? Other than youth.
 
Right now he doesn’t seem an exciting choice. That said I think he’s a good basketball coach and a local guy. No doubt he can coach the game which checks the x’s and o’s Aspect. Recruiting is worrisome but I’m not convinced he can’t do that. I’d support him. He’s definitely not Norm Roberts. If he’s excited about the job I’m glad to hear it. Get him some powerful NY recruiters. Let’s face it. We are a dumpster fire. Can only go up from here. Don’t overpay this guy though before he proves he can bring talent in here.
 
[quote="P Simmons" post=344066][quote="JohnnyFan" post=344059]Can't believe I am saying this. I would actually rather GSJ and a strong staff than Jones. Talk about a reach candidate.[/quote]

Really? Why?
I agree he's far from the dream candidate, but he turned around the Yale program, he's had 2 NCAA Tourney appearances in the last 4 years, won an NCAA Tourney game in one of those, has recruited 2 kids who will be in this year's NBA draft. He's from Long Island, seems to have a great work ethic, brother is also a D1 basketball coach.

What does GSJ have that he doesn't? Other than youth.[/quote]

His experience is commensurate with coaching D-II. The Ivy league is another world with no scholarship players. This guy wouldn't know the first thing about how to recruit a 4-star high school prospect with big time options. The closest he has been to BE competition was watching from the stands. How do you pass over Cluess (who I didn't love) and hire Jones? I am sure he is a [strike]Norm[/strike] good guy, but is that what we are looking for?

And, let the record show, I supported Moser.......so I am not a Pitino or bust guy. Anyone that is okay with this hire is condoning the Bobby and Joe circus. Welcome to long-term mediocrity.

At this point, give me Mike Anderson, Frank Martin, Hurley, Pitino.......or just put GSJ in there and see what happens. It can't get worse.
 
Last edited:
Denigrating his accomplishments by saying someone has to win the Ivy League isn't a fair metric to use. According to KenPom this year Yale was a better team than St. John's. His 2016 team was better than any team Cluess has ever had. They were good teams regardless of what conference they played in. I have no idea if he will work at St John's, but based off past record the idea that Cluess is James Naismith and this guy is Rich Kotite is flat wrong.
 
[quote="adavis1" post=344071]Denigrating his accomplishments by saying someone has to win the Ivy League isn't a fair metric to use. According to KenPom this year Yale was a better team than St. John's. His 2016 team was better than any team Cluess has ever had. They were good teams regardless of what conference they played in. I have no idea if he will work at St John's, but based off past record the idea that Cluess is James Naismith and this guy is Rich Kotite is flat wrong.[/quote]

So why has James Jones not been mentioned for other jobs? Why is our 9th choice not on anybody else's radar? Is our administration so brilliant that they found an undiscovered diamond in the rough?

Face it, this is the final option at the end of the most pathetic head coaching search anyone can remember.
 
Last edited:
Let’s face it. It’s definitely not a strong hire by any means. That said, it’s possible it can work out. Again though, our crack team of gempesaw and Oliva are cursed so if it’s their decision it’s hard to be hopeful.
 
[quote="JohnnyFan" post=344069][ [b]The closest he has been to BE competition was watching from the stands.

Not fair JF.
In the NCAA Tourney this year, his team almost took down #3 LSU.
In the NCAA Tourney 3 years ago, his team beat #5 Baylor in the first round and lost to Duke in the second round by 7 points.

Remind me again how SJU has performed in the NCAA Tourney over that same time frame?

And how many players has our crackpot staff gotten into the NBA Draft over the last years? If projections are correct, one less than Jones' staff.
 
Last edited:
[quote="MCNPA" post=344074]Let’s face it. It’s definitely not a strong hire by any means. That said, it’s possible it can work out. Again though, our crack team of gempesaw and Oliva are cursed so if it’s their decision it’s hard to be hopeful.[/quote]

Not cursed......incompetent and thickheaded.
 
Eagerly anticipating the “Hey Coach K didn’t give scholarships out at Army and look what he did” rationalizing.
 
No doubt, this result is not what I wanted and this has been a disaster. Conversely, why has Cluess not been mentioned for other jobs? I have no idea if Cluess, Moser, Boynton, Jones, Odom or any of the rest besides Pitino would win here. I suppose my bigger point is liking Cluess or Moser but burning season tickets over Jones is really the narcissism of small differences. They are all viable options at this point and all decent coaches who have won some in the past at lower levels.
 
I love how some people are trying to justify what would be an awful awful hiring. This is the reason these morons in charge at SJU continue to be in charge. If I would have told you last week when Mullin resigned after there was all this talk of Hurley, Pitino and Cluess that we would end up with James freaking Jones no one on this board would even believe me. Now people are trying to get on board with it. Just mind-boggling.

We just offered $18 million to Porter Moser, no matter how big of a hit this program has taken these past few days there has got to be someone better than JJ out there that would take 18 mil to take this job. If I were SJU I'd pause the search take easter weekend off and hit the reset button, and get some actual qualified names to interview next week. I'd love to bring in Mike Anderson, Mike Boynton, and Frank Martin.
 
Let’s face it. It’s definitely not a strong hire by any means. That said, it’s possible it can work out. Again though, our crack team of gempesaw and Oliva are cursed so if it’s their decision it’s hard to be hopeful.
 
Zach B
The expectation, according to sources, is if St. John's offers Yale's James Jones the vacant head-coaching position he would say yes. After 20 years in Ivy League, would be ready for a new challenge. #sjubb
 
[quote="PharmDJohnnie11" post=344081]I love how some people are trying to justify what would be an awful awful hiring. This is the reason these morons in charge at SJU continue to be in charge. If I would have told you last week when Mullin resigned after there was all this talk of Hurley, Pitino and Cluess that we would end up with James freaking Jones no one on this board would even believe me. Now people are trying to get on board with it. Just mind-boggling.

We just offered $18 million to Porter Moser, no matter how big of a hit this program has taken these past few days there has got to be someone better than JJ out there that would take 18 mil to take this job. If I were SJU I'd pause the search take easter weekend off and hit the reset button, and get some actual qualified names to interview next week. I'd love to bring in Mike Anderson, Mike Boynton, and Frank Martin.[/quote]

Exactly. Think big or go home.

MJDinkins has been railing against settling for mediocrity for months and I agree. If we want to be a competitive program, you can't operate like this.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top