Jeff Jones, head coach of the AU Men's Basketball team, made it to the Final Four in a different capacity this year - as a father.
Putting aside painful memories of a third straight loss in the Patriot League Championship game, Jones took his 10-year-old son, Jeff Jr., to San Antonio for his first Final Four. Not counting a brief nap the two took on Saturday before the national semifinals, it was a trip Jones devoted to sharing with his son the love of basketball that has spanned his own life.
"It was remarkable - I think I had as much fun as he did," Jones said. The Jones boys spent three hours at the NCAA Fan Fest, where Jeff Jr. spun circles around his father as he went from the mini-hoop slam-dunk contest to the three-point contest.
"He was going nuts," Jones said.
Their trip was capped off right with two gut-wrenching semifinal games.
"It was really fun for me - that was a different perspective of a Final Four," Jones said.
The game of basketball holds a place in different areas of Jones' heart. He now balances the lifelong love for the game that hooked him as a youngster with a professional outlook that has made him one of the most respected basketball minds in the country.
"I am truly someone that doesn't just coach - I love the game," Jones said. For as long as Jones can remember, basketball has been a part of his life. Growing up in Owensboro, Ky., Jones said basketball served as a uniting activity in his family.
His father, Bob, was a legendary coach at Kentucky Wesleyan University, where his 1973 team won the NCAA Division II national championship. Jones and his younger brother Doug spent their summers learning the game from their father and competing against his college players.
"When he learned how to play, he was always wondering how he could do things differently," said Bob of his son. "He always asked a lot of questions - that has led to his great knowledge of the game."
"I learned from my father how the game is supposed to be played," Jones said. "It's much more of a blue collar approach - you're supposed to play hard, you're supposed to play tough, you're supposed to play fair, but you're supposed to play to win."
In college, Jones won as a player at the University of Virginia, leading his team to a Final Four appearance. Jones also won as a coach at UVA, where he took six different teams to the postseason. At a smaller, education-first school like AU, Jones saw the challenge and focused on the principles taught to him by his father.
Using that approach, Jones revamped the AU program he took over four years ago. When he was hired on April 17, 2000, the small Division I program in Northwest D.C. had not enjoyed a winning season since 1990-1991. In just his second season, Jones' team compiled 18 wins and 12 losses. The 12-win improvement from the season before was the second biggest turnaround in the nation that year behind Bob Knight's Texas Tech squad.
"You have to work hard, but just as importantly, you have to work smart," he said. "We have to understand who we are as an institution and we have to know where we want to go."
Jones breathed new life into the victory-challenged AU program by bringing in people who fit his mold.
Keiran Donohue, who served as Jones' student manager at UVA from 1993 to 1998, is now one of Jones' to assistants at AU. Donohue said he agrees with Jones' no frills approach toward the job. "I agree with how he runs a program," said Donohue. "Let's work hard, be honest and try to win games."
There is nothing fancy about this approach - that is not what Jones is about. Jones realizes AU doesn't have the first-rate facilities other schools boast, and his team may be on ESPN once a year, if it is lucky. Those things are out of his control. He is at AU to do a job - and that is to build a consistent winner and develop solid young men in the community.
"A lot of coaches in college hoops are more interested in money, image and style as a replacement for substance," said Donohue. "Coach Jones subjugates himself for the team."
In doing so, Jones has the AU program on the cusp of something special. Three winning seasons in a row have changed the attitude about the basketball team on campus. Jones is proud of this fact, but knows there is still work to do. "Expectations have changed," he said.
The three Patriot League runner-up trophies that sit glaringly on the far wall of the AU hoops office serve as a constant reminder as to where Jones ultimately wants to see this program - the NCAA Tournament.
John Feinstein, a renowned author and expert on the Patriot League, said Jones' unique player/coach blend has successfully turned the once dormant program into a contender for the tournament every year. "He has the mentality of a player, so he understands that aspect of the game," said Feinstein. "When you put all that together, you've got the ideal makeup of a coach." That makeup has helped Jones draw the types of athletes needed to take AU to the next level.
Jason Thomas, a junior shooting guard, said he and Jones have developed an important respect for each other's goals. "He's a competitor - he loves to win," said Thomas, "That fits me really well because all I want to do is win - it's our common goal."
Jones has a flair for the game that attracts players, but he also possesses a knowledge of basketball that wows his assistant coaches. Pete McLaughlin, a former walk-on at UVA under Jones, is in his third year as an assistant at AU.
Of Jones' immense understanding of basketball and what it takes to build a program, McLaughlin said "When it comes down to it, he's just a really smart guy - he gets things done very well and very quickly."
Most importantly, Jones is not afraid to share his knowledge of the game with his assistant coaches. Basketball has been such an important part of Jones' life that he is repaying it by helping others who share his passion.
"He let me do a job not a lot of people would have let me do at a very early age," said Donohue of his duties while a manager at UVA. "I wouldn't be here if not for him - I owe him everything."
By sticking to the principles taught to him by his father all those years ago in a hot and sticky Kentucky gym, Jones has dug the AU program out of the gutter. Five years to the week he was hired by the school, Jones has transformed AU hoops. "The fact that this has even become a program is a pretty special thing," said McLaughlin.
But Jones will not be totally satisfied with the transformation until AU crosses the threshold into the NCAA tournament. "Obviously, the first time will be very special, but we want to compete at that level every year," said Jones.
Because of that kind of thinking Thomas is excited for next season. "I see us going and I know he does too," he said. "He's taught us how to win."
Even though college basketball is over for the moment, Jones will continue doing what it takes to ensure that he will again stride the sidelines at the NCAA tournament with a team and program he has built from the ground up.
"I'm very proud of him," said his father, "You know, everybody in the stands thinks they can coach, but not many want to be in that position - it has to be something you love."
On his own, Jones spent hours upon hours falling in love with basketball on his backyard hoop and in his garage when it got too cold. "While I was playing make believe I was envisioning all these thousands of scenarios - learning what to do," said Jones.
In the past three seasons, Jones has taken his teams within heartbreaking seconds of the NCAA tournament. "It was tough the first year and each year it has gotten even tougher. That frustration is still there. There is nothing I can do - there's really no outlet for it"
