Johnny Jones

Age | 52 Occupation | Head Coach, LSU Men’s Basketball Hometown | DeRidder, La.

You’ve heard of LSU’s slogan—love purple and live gold? Johnny Jones could be its poster child.

The first-year LSU men’s basketball coach seems to have spent nearly every waking hour since getting his dream job last April in spreading the gospel of his adopted city, the school that’s woven into his very fabric and the basketball program that took him away from DeRidder and made him a Tiger for life. He was a player on LSU’s 1981 Final Four team and coach on the team that went back in 1986—part of his 13 years as Dale Brown’s assistant.

When he recruits, he tells prospective players and their parents “about the times when I’ve driven up to the arena here and there are lines around the building, not the day of the game, but the day before the game.”

“That’s something that we have to get back to,” he says. “Having those types of crowds and that type of excitement and enthusiasm among our fan base. I was here before when that happened.”

LSU basketball has had 10 losing seasons in the past 19 years. It’s likely that stat will become 11 of 20 this season, but if the Tigers’ play on the court can match Jones’ enthusiasm off it, the future ought to be bright. @lsubasketball