What is your opinion of Jones? I am hearing a mixed bag. Sources: Jones a candidate at Auburn | Denton Record Chronicle | News for Denton County, Texas | Sports: Top Stories North Texas head coach Johnny Jones is a candidate for the same position at Auburn and will likely interview for the job in the next few days, multiple sources close to the situation said Monday. Jones led UNT to the NCAA Tournament for the second time in the last four seasons this year and posted his fourth straight 20-win campaign. The 2009-10 season was just the latest chapter in one of the greatest turnaround stories in the history of UNT athletics, one that caught the attention of an Auburn program looking for a coach capable of vaulting the Tigers to the top of the SEC. Auburn is seeking a replacement for Jeff Lebo, who was not retained after the Tigers finished 15-17 this season and fell to Florida in the first round of the SEC tournament. Lebo posted a 96-93 record in six seasons at Auburn and had just two winning campaigns. Auburn is opening a new $92.5 million basketball arena prior to next season. To say that Jones faced a more daunting set of circumstances when he arrived at UNT prior to the 2001-02 season would be an understatement. The Mean Green won just 20 total games combined in the four seasons prior to Jones arrival. That dismal stretch is little more than a memory now for UNT.
Johnny Jones was a very good assistant coach under Dale Brown and a good player in his day, going to the final four both as a player and a coach at LSU. He is a fabulous recruiter and was being groomed to be Dale's replacement before the Lester Earl probation incident ruined the end of Dales long career. But Jones and Dale were cleared of wrongdoing and Earl's subsequent admitted that the NCAA conspired with him to generate some dirt to muddy Dale with. I understand he has been a very good head coach at North Texas and has worked in the SEC and at Memphis. I would not be surprised to see him a candidate for a future LSU vacancy, now that he has established himself some head coaching credentials. He surely wouldn't mind punching his ticket at an SEC school with growth opportunities.
He and Jerry Tarkanian criticized the NCAA enforcement division openly and loudly . . called them vindictive Nazi's. Dale weathered three NCAA investigations before they finally got something to stick by bribing Lester Earl with an additional year of eligibility to saddle Brown with an infraction by asking a booster for some money. They got Tarkanian, too. The NCAA is necessary but they are hardly fair-handed and they can be personally vindictive.
I question the necessity of the NCAA. I question the necessity of any governing body which goes after certain programs and people by using unethical means...bribing...to ruin careers while looking the other way when insiders violate rules. I question the necessity of a governing body which makes sure that athletes who are responsible for producing hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue don't get paid one penny and don't receive anything that could be construed by the wildest imagination as an in kind donation. I question the necessity of a governing body which requires millions of dollars to sustain its corporate status and cadre of corporate attorneys to make sure that the NCAA corporate structure is placed before the welfare and well being of the athletes. Operating revenue for 2010 fiscal year $710,290,000...more than 710 million dollars. Dale Brown and Tarkanian were right...the NCAA is a bunch of gestapo bastards !!
The ever-quotable Earl still sometimes finds his way into the news, like in September of 2007 when he walked into the offices of the Baton Rouge (La.) Advocate and asked to speak to the LSU sports reporter. Earl hand-delivered a three-page written apology to LSU fans, former Tiger coach Dale Brown and assistant Johnny Jones, for his role in getting the school placed on probation in 1998. LSU was found guilty of violations in the recruitment of Earl. "It was way overdue," Earl said of his apology. "I'd go online and see stuff about that (probation) was still talked about. I said, 'Why not give them an apology and put it behind me and the community?' "Coach Brown did call me after my apology came out. I think a lot of people were pleased about it." Brown told the Advocate he held no ill will toward Earl. "The most interesting journey that a person can make is discovering himself. I believe Lester has done that, and I forgive him," Brown told the paper. Earl hopes he can give back to his home state someday. "It's always tough to leave. Who wants to leave the nest? It's home," he said. "That's history now. Hopefully I'll go back one day and maybe get a coaching job there. My family is still there. It's always going to be home." Knees trouble Earl | KUsports.com More...... In November 1998, at the conclusion of a 21-month investigation, the NCAA placed LSU on three years' probation. The violations, the Advocate stated, stemmed "ostensibly from an admitted cash payment of $5,000 from Dr. Redfield Bryan, an LSU booster, to Earl." Among the most significant penalties were the loss of two scholarships per year for three years and the limitation of LSU to four initial scholarship offers over the first two years of the probationary period. John Brady, who replaced Brown as coach in 1997, has said the sanctions adversely impacted the program for longer than the period intended. Brown and Jones, who was initially alleged to have given Earl $6,600, were cleared of all violations. Still, Earl in his letter felt they both deserved an apology. "I feel sorriest for hurting coach Dale Brown," Earl wrote. "Coach Brown, I apologize to you for tarnishing your magnificent career at LSU. The second apology I owe most is to coach Johnny Jones. Coach Jones, I never imagined you would have suffered so much because of the few supposed 'little things' I told the NCAA that you did." Brown, who received a copy of Earl's letter, issued a brief statement to the Advocate. "The most interesting journey that a person can make is discovering himself," Brown told the Advocate. "I believe Lester has done that, and I forgive him." Earl asserts in his letter that NCAA investigators pressured him into making allegations. "The NCAA basically told me if they didn't find any 'wrongdoing' that I would only be awarded one year left of my college career," wrote Earl, who arrived at KU in January 1997. "They said, 'If we don't find any dirt on coach Brown, you won't be allowed to play but one more year at Kansas. ... If we do find out wrongdoing by coach Brown, you will be able to play two and a half more seasons.'" Earl wrote he told the NCAA "some little things," including that LSU gave him money. "I was pressured into telling them SOMETHING," Earl wrote. "I was 19 years old at that time. The NCAA intimidated me, manipulated me into making up things, and basically encouraged me to lie, in order to be able to finish my playing career at Kansas." Stacey Osborn, a spokeswoman for the NCAA, said the organization declined comment and stands by the public report on the case issued in 1998. http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2007/sep/17/exlsu_player_earl_issues_apology/