The local paper had an in-depth feature on Yale coach James Jones, who is starting his 26th year as their coach. Since the article has a paywall, instead of posting a link I will post a few of the more interesting parts.
Only Greg Kampe of Oakland and Tom Izzo of Michigan State have been running the same Division I men's program for longer than Jones and Gonzaga's Mark Few, also entering his 26th season. Jones' first team finished fifth in the Ivy. The next 24 have all finished fourth or higher. Jones has a career record of 396-311, closing in on a milestone, and he is second-all time with 211 Ivy victories. Only Carril has coached more seasons (29) and has more victories in the conference (310).
There's been a lot of discussion about the effect of NIL on Ivy athletics. That was addressed in this article:
What now? Yale is expected to be good again because they're good every year. Jones has made it that way. But to what extent can runs like last season's be counted on? In a sport where billionaires are giving millions of dollars and millionaires are giving hundreds of thousands to their alma mater or favorite high-major program, programs like Yale must continue to operate the way they were built, essentially. There's a few name, image and likeness bucks flowing through the New Haven campus, but there's no collective no foreseeable way of matching the ante of others in a pay-for-play era.
Jones said, " I would love an opportunity to get to an Elite Eight, a Final Four. And looking at the way college basketball is going in terms of NIL and the transfer portal, I don't know how feasible it is to continue the success we have nationally in the league, given the new structure of things, where everybody is being paid except for our guys. I don't know if we can sustain. Five years from now, is an Ivy League team going to be able to go to the NCAA Tournament and beat an Auburn team? I don't know. From that standpoint, it makes it hard. We're 40 minutes away from a Sweet 16 last year and we've gotten there twice. I don't know. Different world. Absolutely different world. It's changed, and I don't know if it's changed for the better."
Jones said that since Yale beat UConn in 2018, it's been hard to get teams from power conferences to play his team.
"We're playing Purdue [this season] because I know [coach] Matt Painter. He got us a guarantee game. We're playing Minnesota because Danny Wolf went into the portal and committed to Michigan, and the next day they called and wanted to play us. We had been trying to get a game with Minnesota and anybody else forever, and as soon as Danny went in the portal they decided to play us. Our best player leaves, now they want to play the game."
This quote from the Yale assistant coach was interesting. At Cornell it seems like a lot of the athletes live with teammates for most of their Cornell careers. It doesn't sound like that's the case at Yale.
Anyone enrolled at Yale is going to have a background of diverse pursuits.
"And that's what we sell them," said associate head coach Matt Kingsley, entering his 20th year as an assistant. "One of the first questions we get from parents on tour is if the basketball players live together. A lot of places, they do. Our answer is no. They're going to live with other students in the college, and we embrace it. My answer is that living with other students is part of the Yale experience. You don't decide to go to Yale just to pigeonhole the experience to the basketball team. You might spend 75 percent of your time with the team, anyway, all the lifts and practices and travel, but you need to form a network and have amazing experiences with other people on this campus. You're going to have Pulitzer Prize winners. A future president or the next founder of an Instagram or whatever could be your roommate."
Finally, this quote from Jones about the recruiting challenges he faced when he took over the job sound like he wasn't too worried about competing with Cornell for players.
"I thought to myself, there are eight teams in the conference," Jones said. "Academically, Yale is among the best. So right there, there are five or so schools that aren't seen at the same level. Because of that, I felt we had an in with kids you can recruit. Our school is seen at a higher level. And basketball-wise, we looked at Penn as a school had a history that was really good, and Princeton with a history that was really good. You had to chase those two teams, and that was the fight when we got here. I just felt like we were going to be able to do that."
Ivy League has to figure out what they can do to stay competitive. Noted on Nicki Moore's Big Red Threads that she discussed NIL with the Board of Trustees. Know that Board Chair is very pro sports for what that's worth given Ivy League politics.
Columbia giving Villanova a run for their money at the moment.
Quote from: chimpfoodColumbia giving Villanova a run for their money at the moment.
Columbia wins, 90-80. Wow
Quote from: djk26Quote from: chimpfoodColumbia giving Villanova a run for their money at the moment.
Columbia wins, 90-80. Wow
De La Rosa is terrific.
Quote from: arugulaQuote from: djk26Quote from: chimpfoodColumbia giving Villanova a run for their money at the moment.
Columbia wins, 90-80. Wow
De La Rosa is terrific.
He's a stud and has had two great games so far this year.
'nova hasn't been NOVA since Wright left, but that is a helluva win for the Lions.
Quote from: mountainredQuote from: arugulaQuote from: djk26Quote from: chimpfoodColumbia giving Villanova a run for their money at the moment.
Columbia wins, 90-80. Wow
De La Rosa is terrific.
He's a stud and has had two great games so far this year.
'nova hasn't been NOVA since Wright left, but that is a helluva win for the Lions.
I think Neptune is done at Nova. They've fallen hard.
Nova was 17 pt fav. Thats still a shock no matter the fall
Quote from: mountainred'nova hasn't been NOVA since Wright left, but that is a helluva win for the Lions.
If the Wildcats are shopping, Villanova is the dream job for Steve Donahue (Cornell coach 2000-2010, 125–112 (.527) and 72-21 (.774) last 3 seasons). He's 125–112 (.527) at Penn. He's 62, perhaps a dozen years too old to be the perfect hire for the Wildcats. People may wonder why he couldn't do more for BC than 54-76 (.353). If he closes out his career with Penn, he's still had a very good coaching career.
Not let's see if Jon Jaques '10 is Cornell hoops' Mike Schafer '86. A better role model than David Archer '05. Correction, Archer was a good model and coach in the eyes of many players. The one exception being the W-L things.