The irony here is compelling...

[Harry]

Does anyone else find it amazing that both Tony Benford and Johnny Jones seem to be on the same trajectory right now?

Even the articles about them seem to be from the same writer...

LSU basketball coach Johnny Jones should be fired, but not now

When mass apathy sets in, the writing is on the wall. There’s no conceivable way Alleva can bring back the man who is, at best, the second-worst basketball coach in the SEC today. It’s hard to believe anyone else is capable of missing the NCAA Tournament with the No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft, as Jones did last year with Ben Simmons.

Just look at the list and tell me who you think Jones is capable of matching wits with. Perhaps there’s the guy he has actually beaten this year, Missouri’s Kim Anderson, but that’s about it.

SEC programs are starting to take hoops seriously, as Alabama’s hire of one-time NBA Coach of the Year Avery Johnson demonstrates. LSU will only fall further behind with Jones in charge.

Unfortunately, there’s no actual benefit to firing him before March. It gives LSU zero edge on its next coaching search and would only serve to make a dysfunctional team an even bigger nightmare that could haunt the program’s future chances by way of a potentially nosediving Academic Progress Rate.

The one positive thing that can be said about Jones is that he handles things in a dignified manner, and that is how he should be allowed to go out. Knowing that this is the end of the road would allow him to teach important life lessons to his players about how to conduct themselves when facing adversity.

read more:https://www.seccountry.com/lsu/.WIEhvQD7unA.facebook

 

[ChristopherRyanWilkes]

I may get flack for this, but I'd still take Johnny Jones back if he got fired at LSU. 

[drex]

I would take Johnny back in a new york minute.

[UNT90]

No

[untjim1995]

21 minutes ago, ChristopherRyanWilkes said:

I may get flack for this, but I'd still take Johnny Jones back if he got fired at LSU. 

I have a real strong feeling that this may very well happen. I think it's a very strong possibility.

[TreeFiddy]

I will shed no tears.  He had everything he needed right here, but left anyway.  His choice.

 

[ChristopherRyanWilkes]

5 minutes ago, TreeFiddy said:

I will shed no tears.  He had everything he needed right here, but left anyway.  His choice.

 

Oh yeah, he should have totally turned down an offer to coach at his alma mater, which is also a P5 school with much higher pay. I don't blame him or hold any animosity and don't think any fans do. He tried it there, it didn't work, but we know what he can do here. Personally, I have no doubt he could turn this ship back around fairly quickly. 

[shootermcgavin44]

5 minutes ago, TreeFiddy said:

I will shed no tears.  He had everything he needed right here, but left anyway.  His choice.

 

He's making 1.5 million at his alma mater this year, are you really saying he shouldn't of left? 

[TreeFiddy]

4 minutes ago, shootermcgavin44 said:

He's making 1.5 million at his alma mater this year, are you really saying he shouldn't of left? 

I just said I will shed no tears.  It's a moot point, he would not return and highly doubtful he is going to be asked.

As a fan, I would obviously like the wins he produced (wish he could have produced a conference championship to go along with the 2 conference tournament wins), but far from a certainty that he would be able to reproduce his prior results imo.  As the article points out, he managed to miss the NCAA tournament with the #1 pick in the draft.  

I would rather see what a search could produce, that's all I am saying.

[shootermcgavin44]

3 minutes ago, TreeFiddy said:

I just said I will shed no tears.  It's a moot point, he would not return and highly doubtful he is going to be asked.

As a fan, I would obviously like the wins he produced (wish he could have produced a conference championship to go along with the 2 conference tournament wins), but far from a certainty that he would be able to reproduce his prior results imo.  As the article points out, he managed to miss the NCAA tournament with the #1 pick in the draft.  

I would rather see what a search could produce, that's all I am saying.

"He had everything he needed right here" 

Except to coach in the SEC at his alma mater for 5 times the pay 

 

 

[CMJ]

It's really been downhill for JJ ever since LSU blew a double digit 2nd half lead to NC State in the 2015 NCAA tournament.  I'm not saying that if they'd won his tenure wouldn't have spiraled out of control, but he was on an upward trajectory until then.  It's like all the momentum went out of the program when they lost, and not even Simmons could halt it.

[TheTastyGreek]

1 hour ago, CMJ said:

 not even Simmons could halt it.

I'm not sure how many people saw the Simmons documentary on Showtime... Eye opening, to say the least. 

Simmons basically cops to completely bailing out on class as soon as fall semester ended. Meant he wasn't eligible for the Wooden award, and he didn't give a crap about it. 

Later, when they're a bubble team, he flat out says (paraphrasing from memory) "I'm from Australia. I came here to play in the NBA. I don't really care about a college tournament; we never knew or cared about it where I came from."

Simmons flat out, stone cold, 100% did not give a damn about anything but staying healthy and going pro. 

That movie was fascinating. I don't remember JJ having any in-depth screen time, but just seeing how a guy in Simmons's stratosphere operates and deals with the unique demands of that weird, not-pro limbo.... Definitely worth watching. 

[GreenMachine]

2 hours ago, untjim1995 said:

I have a real strong feeling that this may very well happen. I think it's a very strong possibility.

Based on what?

[untbowler]

9 hours ago, UNT90 said:

No

Ditto, JJ did great but he could not win the big game, we never came close to sniffing a Top 25 win, but did have plenty of chokes.

No thanks, let the search find a coach that can pull a few upsets, which UNT has rarely if ever had.

 

[UNT90]

6 minutes ago, untbowler said:

Ditto, JJ did great but he could not win the big game, we never came close to sniffing a Top 25 win, but did have plenty of chokes.

No thanks, let the search find a coach that can pull a few upsets, which UNT has rarely if ever had.

 

Not only that, but we won't be getting the same JJ. We would be getting retirement JJ. We just had an AD that was retired on duty for 10 of his 15 years.

Don't need none of that mess

[TheTastyGreek]

29 minutes ago, untbowler said:

Ditto, JJ did great but he could not win the big game, we never came close to sniffing a Top 25 win, but did have plenty of chokes.

No thanks, let the search find a coach that can pull a few upsets, which UNT has rarely if ever had.

 

Which Top 25 opponent did you feel we ought to have beaten? 

[MeanGreen_MBA]

1 minute ago, TheTastyGreek said:

Which Top 25 opponent did you feel we ought to have beaten? 

We gave Memphis a ride for 3/4 of a game in the first round of the NCAA.  I was watching it during "lunch" at a local wing spot, and pulled a number of customer into the game with me.....that was fun....until it wasn't...

[TheTastyGreek]

3 minutes ago, MeanGreen_MBA said:

We gave Memphis a ride for 3/4 of a game in the first round of the NCAA.  I was watching it during "lunch" at a local wing spot, and pulled a number of customer into the game with me.....that was fun....until it wasn't...

I don't think that actually happened. 

We would have had to go on an upset conference tournament run and probably knocked off a favored and better rested team in the finals to make the NCAAs, and we never got any upset wins. 

Sorry. Must be your mind playing tricks on you. On me, too, since I thought I had fond memories of it. 

[Cerebus]

7 hours ago, TheTastyGreek said:

Later, when they're a bubble team, he flat out says (paraphrasing from memory) "I'm from Australia. I came here to play in the NBA. I don't really care about a college tournament; we never knew or cared about it where I came from."

If he's from Australia, wouldn't he have actually said:

Quote

˙ɯoɹɟ ǝɯɐɔ I ǝɹǝɥʍ ʇᴉ ʇnoqɐ pǝɹɐɔ ɹo ʍǝuʞ ɹǝʌǝu ǝʍ ;ʇuǝɯɐuɹnoʇ ǝƃǝlloɔ ɐ ʇnoqɐ ǝɹɐɔ ʎllɐǝɹ ʇ,uop I ˙∀qN ǝɥʇ uᴉ ʎɐld oʇ ǝɹǝɥ ǝɯɐɔ I ˙ɐᴉlɐɹʇsn∀ ɯoɹɟ ɯ,I

 

[TreeFiddy]

7 hours ago, TheTastyGreek said:

I'm not sure how many people saw the Simmons documentary on Showtime... Eye opening, to say the least. 

Simmons basically cops to completely bailing out on class as soon as fall semester ended. Meant he wasn't eligible for the Wooden award, and he didn't give a crap about it. 

Later, when they're a bubble team, he flat out says (paraphrasing from memory) "I'm from Australia. I came here to play in the NBA. I don't really care about a college tournament; we never knew or cared about it where I came from."

Simmons flat out, stone cold, 100% did not give a damn about anything but staying healthy and going pro. 

That movie was fascinating. I don't remember JJ having any in-depth screen time, but just seeing how a guy in Simmons's stratosphere operates and deals with the unique demands of that weird, not-pro limbo.... Definitely worth watching. 

And the parallels continue.

 

[Graddean]

 I know JJgave us some good times, but before we put up a cry to bring him back, we should look at some things.  First, his conference record in the Sun Belt was .506, overall .569.  Apparently, a umber of OOCwins were against less than SB opposition.  His last year, we were 4th in the SB West.  This was with TM for the spring semester when most conference games were played.  He did take us to the dance twice which doubled the number of times we had previously gone.  The second visit was the only year we came in first in the SB West.  I know compared to what we have seen , his times may have look like Kentucky, but I think we can do better?

[untjim1995]

8 hours ago, GreenMachine said:

Based on what?

A few things:

1. People here really liked him and he really liked it here.

2. He's affordable

3. He is tied in very well with TX and LA high school coaches who like him and respect him.

4. Coming off failure at his alma mater, he will be hungry to rebuild his reputation, similar to what Tubby Smith did when he got fired at Minnesota and immediately went to Texas Tech and turned things around to the point that Memphis hired him away. I think JJ, under Wren's leadership (assuming he knows what he's doing), could be walking into a great situation.

Im not advocating for him to get the job, but he will be interested and I believe we will be interested in him.

[EagleMBA]

4 minutes ago, untjim1995 said:

A few things:

1. People here really liked him and he really liked it here.

2. He's affordable

3. He is tied in very well with TX and LA high school coaches who like him and respect him.

4. Coming off failure at his alma mater, he will be hungry to rebuild his reputation, similar to what Tubby Smith did when he got fired at Minnesota and immediately went to Texas Tech and turned things around to the point that Memphis hired him away. I think JJ, under Wren's leadership (assuming he knows what he's doing), could be walking into a great situation.

Im not advocating for him to get the job, but he will be interested and I believe we will be interested in him.

True. And, while not a basketball hall of fame coach, he has a very respectable resume...he is not chopped liver. I remember times when he would stop by the MGC room after the game and talk ball with fans. I also remember the time I first met him at a football game we played at Texas Stadium. He introduced himself before I could introduce myself. Good man and good coach. Agree that we should beat the bushes for candidates but we could do a lot worse, IMO.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Jones_(basketball,_born_1961)

 

[UNT90]

15 minutes ago, untjim1995 said:

4. Coming off failure at his alma mater, he will be hungry to rebuild his reputation, similar to what Tubby Smith did when he got fired at Minnesota and immediately went to Texas Tech and turned things around to the point that Memphis hired him away. I think JJ, under Wren's leadership (assuming he knows what he's doing), could be walking into a great situation.

JJ will be 56 years old and coming off a huge contract at LSU (compared to what UNT will pay). I don't want someone looking for a soft place to land. Give me someone who is hungry, not someone pushing himself back from the dinner table.

[Travis]

It wouldn't be the worst hire, but I do hope for something different.

Right now, he is 1-9 in his last 10 games at LSU and doing horribly in conference.  Granted, it is the SEC... but, he should have SEC caliber players.  I still can't get over that nasty loss in their final game of the SEC tournament last year.  My god....  That is TB level right there.