BU coach Jones has deep LI roots

Stony Brook's claustrophobic Pritchard Gym was sold out for Friday night's first-place showdown in the America East between the Seawolves (12-7, 7-1) and defending conference champion Boston University (11-11, 7-1). But even though the home team planned a "red-out," with fans and players alike wearing red, the environment wasn't entirely hostile to Terriers coach Joe Jones.

His Long Island roots are as deep as anyone's. Jones was born in Ronkonkoma and attended Half Hollow Hills West before playing college basketball at SUNY-Oswego. His coaching career began with a three-year stint at Comsewogue before he joined Jay Wright's staff at Hofstra in 1994.

Thanks to those connections, Jones was expecting "a ton" of friends to show for the game, plus his brother John from North Babylon. "I felt bad because I selfishly took most of the tickets from my staff," Jones said before boarding the bus for the drive down from Boston. "We have a lot of friends from Comsewogue, high school friends, family members, college friends, and it will be great to see a lot of familiar faces."

After spending last season as an assistant at Boston College, Jones had no trouble jumping into the Terriers' rivalry with Stony Brook when he took the BU job last spring after Pat Chambers became head coach at Penn State. Jones said he's friends with Seawolves coach Steve Pikiell dating to when Jones was head coach at Columbia and played an annual game against Stony Brook.

"I played a lot of pickup ball at Stony Brook when I was coaching at Comsewogue," Jones said. "I was following Stony Brook even when I was an assistant at Villanova and then a head coach with Columbia. I was at the championship game last year when BU won that tight game. I'm very familiar with the rivalry. It's great for our conference and for both schools."

Jones landed the BU job, he said, because of his relationship to what he describes as the "Villanova coaching tree" established by Wright. Chambers joined Wright's staff after Jones moved on to Columbia. When Chambers left BU, he recommended Jones.

Not only that, but Chambers left some talent, including America East leading scorer Darryl Partin. After struggling to turn Columbia into an Ivy League contender, Jones enjoys the favorite's mantle.

"People talk about expectations and pressure," he said. "I welcomed a chance to coach a team good enough to win it. I've always wanted to coach a team that had a chance to play in the NCAA Tournament and win its league. If we can continue to get better, hopefully, we'll have a chance to do that."