JJ article / contract extension

[NT80]

Amy Wiseman / NT Daily

Head coach Johnny Jones will be coaching at NT until at least 2008 after receiving a contract extension last week. The Mean Green posted a 7-21 record during the 2002-2003 season.

Contract extension follows disappointing season for Jones

Jamel King

Staff Writer

July 31, 2003

With an injury-plagued 2002-03 season and a 7-21 record behind him, men's basketball head coach Johnny Jones received a two-year contract extension until 2008.

After leading the Mean Green to 15 victories in 2001-02 the team took a nose-dive last year.

Sickness and injuries forced Jones to use 13 different starting lineups, thanks in part to Leonard Hopkins', the team's second-leading scorer, season-ending injury nine games into the season.

Before the rash of misfortune, NT won the school's first regular season tournament title in 21 years with its best start, 3-2, since 1994-95.

Athletics director Rick Villarreal said Jones exhibits all the qualities the athletic department looks for in head coaches.

"We looked at things across the board," he said. "Not just on the court, but off the court as well.

He's a very caring, concerned and giving person. Those are traits that have endeared him to not only me, but also the players and fans."

Enduring the frustration of last season is what Jones has done.

Riding the momentum of its first winning season since 1995-96, the Mean Green looked poised to compete for the Sun Belt Conference championship.

Thirteen conference losses and a last-second free throw in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament later, the Mean Green was preparing for the 2003-04 season.

Jones said the team battled all season long despite the setbacks.

"People that are close to the program know the number of injuries we had last year," Jones said.

"But anybody who came to games could see that the kids continued to play hard, and I don't think our record was indicative of the type of team we had last year."

Those games included plenty of close calls. Eight of NT's 14 conference games were decided in the last minute or in overtime, with six games won by six points or fewer.

The Mean Green finished the season 4-8 in games determined in the last minute.

Since Jones' arrived in April 2001, the program has taken steps in the right direction both on and off the court.

Two of Jones' six signees have graduated, with the other four still in school with good academic standing.

Also, seven out of eight seniors have also graduated under Jones.

He said the extension adds to his credibility as a long-term mentor for recruits in the future.

"The way we are recruiting is that we want to recruit from high school and have those players come spend 4 years here," Jones said.

"It is important to be able to sit in a living room with a player and his parents and be able to guarantee that I will be their coach for all of his four years."

Under the contract extension, Jones will be locked up until 2008, when he will make $168,852.

His original five-year contract runs from April 2001 through April 2006, starting at $120,000 yearly with guaranteed 5 percent raises each year.

That includes performance-based bonuses for the number of season tickets sold, winning the conference regular season title and post-season tournament, getting to and advancing in the NCAA tournament and meeting academic achievement goals.

[CMJ]

I'm still a firm believer JJ is gonna turn the ship around. Last season was a just a blip IMHO. There's no way with all those injuries we could've expected much better.