Reports – Johnny Jones Out At LSU After SEC Tourney
By 8 PM tonight the career of LSU Head Basketball Coach Johnny Jones could be on a different path. Tonight the less than stellar Tiger basketball team will face Mississippi State in the Southeastern Conference basketball tournament in Nashville.
Nashville might be the perfect place for Jones dismissal because the Tiger's season has been like a very sad country song all year long. The Tigers have won only 10 games this season. They've also had a 15 game losing streak that was only broken recently.
Jones told a media outlet in New Orleans late yesterday that he had not spoken to anyone with the LSU Athletics Department or the LSU Administration regarding his position as coach. He suggested that he and his staff are focusing on the tournament and tonight's game with Mississippi State.
Jones does have two years left on his contract with LSU. His salary for the next two years would amount to $800,000. Those numbers are based on the coach's annual base salary.
Should Jones be dismissed because of this bad season? If you look at his body of work he has a career record of 90 wins and 71 losses. However, this season's issues and last season's disappointment in which LSU's squad featured Ben Simmons the recent number one pick in the NBA draft have combined to leave the Tiger faithful with a very bad taste in their mouths.
My take is this.LSU is not a basketball school anymore. They haven't been since Coach Dale Brown left the program. Ironically Jones was one of Brown's players.
While basketball is a "major" sport at many colleges, football is and always will be king at LSU. The baseball program probably rates second among fan base priority. This perception might make it hard for the Tiger program to bring in a big-time coach and big-time players. Although Jones was able to bring in seven players that have gone on to the NBA.
It would be quite ironic if LSU got on a hot streak and earned a birth in the NCAA tournament. If that happens you can bet the basketball gods will be laughing all the way to the buzzer.