It hasn't taken James Jones long to make an impact on the Yale basketball program. In only four years, Jones has guided Yale to success not seen in New Haven in 40 years.

In 2001-02, Jones led the Bulldogs to their first Ivy League title since 1962-63 and the first post-season tournament victory in the 107-year history of Yale basketball. The team won 21 games, the second most in the modern era of Yale basketball, and reached the second round of the National Invitation Tournament. In the process the Bulldogs set five school records. The 2,394 points scored was a new mark, topping the 2,089 scored by the 1948-49 team. The Bulldogs also set new records for three-pointers made (228) and attempted (671) and for most free throws made (558) and attempted (796).

Jones' success did not go unnoticed. He was named the Ivy League Coach of the Year by Basketball America and CollegeInsider.com. Following Yale's weekend sweep of Penn and Princeton, Dick Vitale selected Jones as his Coach of the Week.

Jones was named Yale's 22nd head coach on Apr. 27, 1999, and he immediately put his stamp on the program as the Bulldogs more than doubled their Division I win total from the previous season and improved to fifth place in the Ivy League. In 1999-2000 the turnaround continued as Yale entered the final weekend of the regular season in the hunt for the Ivy League championship.

One of Jones' goals when he took the job was to upgrade Yale's schedule, a promise he has delivered on. In 2001-02 the Bulldogs finished 1-0 against the Big Ten (Penn State), 1-0 against the ACC (Clemson), 1-0 against the Big East (Rutgers) and 1-1 against the Atlantic 10 (win over Rhode Island, loss to George Washington). In addition, Yale played in the inaugural Guardians Classic, a pre-season tournament. In 1999-00, Penn State became the first Big Ten school to play in the Lee Ampitheater.

Last season, he guided his Bulldogs to a 14-13 record while facing the likes of Olklahoma State, Wake Forest, Penn State and Stanford. His program became so respected, Yale had tremendous difficulty scheduling home games. The Elis didn't play at Lee Amptiheater until January, after playing 10 games.

In addition to his coaching duties, Jones has been active in the New Haven community. Each summer he runs the James Jones Bulldog Basketball Camp. In 2002 he was the recipient of the President's Award from the Greater New Haven NAACP at its 85th Freedom Fund dinner.

Jones was an assistant coach at Yale for two seasons from 1995-97 where he gained a great understanding of the Ivy League. Jones returned to Yale as head coach after two years as an assistant coach at Ohio University, where he was primarily responsible for coordinating the Bobcats' recruiting efforts and developing the post players. In 1998-99 he helped guide Ohio to an 18-10 overall record and a berth in the Mid American Conference Tournament semifinals.

A Long Island, N.Y., native, Jones served as an assistant basketball coach for five seasons (1990-95) at his alma mater, the University at Albany (N.Y.). In his final two coaching seasons at Albany, he helped lead the team to a 44-11 record and an appearance in the NCAA Division III Elite Eight in 1993-94. His primary responsibilities included recruiting, scouting, supervising the fall conditioning program and advising team members on academic matters. The team was 93-40 during his five seasons on the bench.

Jones graduated from Albany in 1986 with a bachelor's degree in communications and in 1995 earned his master's in educational administration. As a player at Albany, Jones was captain of the freshman team and was selected as the team's Freshman of the Year. He played for and coached with the legendary Dr. Richard Sauers, one of only seven collegiate coaches to win more than 700 games.

Jones is an active member of several organizations, including the National Association of Basketball Coaches, the New York State Basketball Coaches Association and the Black Coaches Association.

Before entering the coaching profession, Jones served as an executive account manager at NCR Corporation in Albany, N.Y., where he managed a $1.5 million sales territory.

His brother, Joe, was named as the head coach at Columbia in the spring, giving the Ivy League a rare head coaching brother combination. See Joe's bio for more about that.