Brian Jones - Bradley Braves Asst. Coach Mens BB transcript

I grew up in Rock Island, Illinois. Played for a legendary high school coach. His name was Duncan Reid and very successful program through the years. Went to Northern Iowa, 90 to 94 was my years there. I had a great time. Obviously, went to school with you guys and met a lot of wonderful people. And that's really the people at Northern Iowa opened up so many doors for me in my professional life and my personal life. From there, I went to Australia.

Went over there for a couple years and went on to play in Portugal and Spain. And then one year, I broke my hand and Kevin Lehman called me, who was uh at that time the head coach at Nebraska-Omaha, and said, "What are you doing?" I was like, "I'm just sitting at home. I'm trying to rehab this hand." He goes, "Why don't you come and help me out?" So, I went there. I moved to Omaha from Rock Island and that's how I got started in coaching and I thought it was just going to be something to stay in shape, but then once I got it into it, it was in my blood.

I knew if I wanted to really do this, I had probably quit playing. So, I was 2 years at UNO and then that's when Dr. Chris Bowler got involved in my next move along with Coach Miller. Steve Alford had lost an assistant literally the day before the season started practice started October 14th. I get a call, do a phone interview. I'm in a U-Haul driving to Springfield, Missouri the next day. So, that just shows you Chris you had known me and known Coach Alford and then Eldon had a tight relationship with Steve's dad and Steve's mother.

So, that's all the recruitment that needed for me to get that job and I was there for 6 months. We go to the Sweet 16 and then he gets the Iowa job and I'm blessed to go along with because I grew up in the Quad Cities. I knew a lot about Hawkeye basketball, but just the state of Iowa. I was there 9 years and then I got the head coaching job at North Dakota. That's where the Panther influence came in. Mack was an assistant there at one time and Jake played there.

And you need those things in any profession, I think. You need somebody to help you get your foot in the door. Then once you get the interview, you got to sell yourself and sell your vision. And I was blessed to be there for 14 years and then had to make a decision. At that time my kids were getting older and I was missing a lot of stuff and I stepped down from my head coaching job, 3 years left on my contract, and wanted to get back closer to home to the Midwest and went to Illinois State during a crazy time, COVID, and they ended up letting go coach Muller and then I was the interim for the last six games or so and then got hired at Bradley and we won the league that year.

And then I go down to East Tennessee State to coach my son. I always wanted to do that. He was playing down there and I coached him for 2 years and once he was done with that then I got a call from Warl to come back to the old Bradley Braves and that was the Valley's home to me. It's been a part of my life for so long and it's my wheelhouse and I was just grateful to have an opportunity to come back and be a part of a great league and that's that's so special to me and something I know the history about.

So it was definitely a great move for me and I'm just grateful that I've had the journey I've had with the people in my life to help me along the way and help open doors for me but also be a part of my life and