When Yale and Columbia meet for the first time in New Haven this February,
it will be more than a meeting between two of the top young coaches in the country
-- James, in his fifth season at Yale, and Joe, in his first year at Columbia.
Because more important than family bragging rights or wins and losses in the
Ivy standings, is the fact that this season is thought to be the first time
African-American brothers have coached in a Division I conference at the same
time.
There are currently two other sets of siblings coaching at the Division I level
– the Nutts, Dickey at Arkansas State and Dennis at Southwest Texas State, and
the Herrions, Bill at East Carolina and Tom at College of Charleston. Research
indicates that brothers coaching in the same conference at the same time is
extremely rare. The most notable duo would probably be the Ibas, Clarence and
Hank, in the Missouri Valley Conference from 1949-1957. But almost 50 years
later that all changed as the start of the 2003-04 season saw the Ivies' brother-brother
combo mark their place in the NCAA annals.
“It is a great thing for coaching,” says Black Coaches Association Executive Director Floyd Keith. “When you look at the opportunity for the Jones brothers to coach; it is a great opportunity for the Ivy League and a great accomplishment.”
While the national average of African-American head coaches at the Division I level is 22.9 percent (including the historically black colleges), the Ivy League has almost doubled that percentage in recent years. Since 1995, four of the nine head coaches hired in the Ivy League have been African-American. With the League currently having three black head coaches out of eight squads (37.5 percent), the Jones brothers, along with Princeton head coach John Thompson, might be seen as trailblazers in a profession that is sometimes thought to be slow to change.
“I’m very proud of the fact that we have three black head coaches in the League,” Joe says. “There are a lot of black assistants out there working very hard to become head coaches and I think it’s part of our duty to do the right thing and make it easier for them in the future. I’m very proud of that fact.”
This is not the first time the League has had three African-American head coaches at the same time. In 1974, the Ivy basketball season began with Tom Sanders at Harvard, Ben Bluitt at Cornell and Marcus Jackson at Dartmouth. Of the more than 200 major college programs at the time, fewer than 10 had African-American head coaches.
The changes the Jones brothers are bringing to New Haven and Morningside Heights are evident with increased excitement on campus at both schools.
In New Haven, Jones inherited a Yale program that had not experienced a winning season since 1992. He served quick notice, however, that a change was coming when his squad won the first three Ivy games of his rookie season and more than doubled its win total from the previous year.
“I think my first year here when we won our first three games, that was an indication to me that we could have some success,” James says. “We won those games against teams we were supposed to lose to.”
If Jones was turning a few heads during his first year with the Elis, his second and third seasons let everyone know he had arrived. Jones’ 2001-02 squad finished in a tie for the regular season crown with Penn and Princeton, the Bulldog’s first Ivy League title since 1962-63, and posted the school’s first ever post-season tournament victory in the Elis’ 107-year hoops history. Yale narrowly missed its first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance by falling to Penn 77-58 in a playoff for the League’s automatic NCAA bid.
“Going into the last weekend of the season, we were right there for the championship,” Jones says. “We had a chance to win the conference if we won our last three games. It didn’t turn out that way, but we had a chance. At that point I felt like we were coming, we were going to make some noise.”
The Bulldogs regrouped from the loss to Penn by defeating Rutgers in the first round of the NIT and were rewarded by hosting a second round matchup against Tennessee Tech. The game, held at the New Haven Coliseum, was witnessed by an overflow crowd of nearly 10,000 that created a raucous atmosphere inside. The Eli faithful had gotten a taste of what Jones would bring to campus when his squad upset both Penn and Princeton in New Haven earlier that season, and despite an 80-61 loss to Tennessee Tech in the NIT, a new era of Yale basketball was at hand.
The sounds may not be as loud in Morningside Heights, but there is a roar rising from the Columbia Lions that has been missing since their last League title in 1968. When Joe was hired as coach he promised to turn the Lions into winners, and while he is still only halfway through his rookie campaign, his squad already has more than doubled its win total from last season. The way the Lions have played in their losses shows an improvement that is evident to even the most jaded observer.
There were close early-season losses to Villanova and Manhattan, and a last-second loss to Hofstra, after outplaying them for most of the game. But more importantly, there were the two big overtime wins on the road at Stony Brook and Sacred Heart. Joe is quick to point to his players and staff as a key in helping him start the rebuilding process.
“This is a great group of guys that stuck together last year, in the offseason, and all summer long,” Jones says. “They’ve bought into our style of play and our coaches. We really do have a good relationship with our team and I’m real happy with the character we have on this team.
“We have a great staff, and they all come from quality programs where they have won. They know what it takes to turn this thing around and be part of a successful program.”
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