The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) head men’s basketball coach Brandon Chambers announced on April 22 the hiring of John Jones, who spent the last three seasons as an assistant coach at Texas Southern University, as director of basketball operations.
Jones helped the Tigers to 10 Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) wins last season, marking the third-straight year of more than 10 conference wins. Throughout his tenure, Jones helped Texas Southern to 25 home wins making the H&PE Arena a tough place to play.
In 2024-25, Jones helped guide the Tigers to a top four finish in the SWAC after a 12-win conference season. He guided Kavion McClain to All-SWAC Second Team honors after he averaged 13.9 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 4.4 assists.
In his first season with the Tigers, Jones was part of the staff that helped head coach Johnny Jones, reach his 100thcareer win at Texas Southern and 400th career win. Jones guided the Tigers to 12 SWAC wins as they reached the SWAC Tournament finals for the 19th time in program history and seventh in a row en route to a CollegeInsider.com Tournament appearance.
Jones spent the 2022-23 season as Texas Southern’s graduate assistant where he assisted the staff with practice, game preparation in addition to basketball operations before being promoted to assistant coach.
Jones was a four-year letterwinner at Texas Southern (2018-22) where he helped the Tigers to SWAC Tournament Championships in 2021 and 2022 while also helping the program to a memorable run in the 2018 CollegeInsider.com Tournament en route to a program record 24 wins.
Throughout his career, Jones started 54 games and ranks as one of the top three-point shooters in program history with a total of 173 three-pointers made and ranks second in wins in program history as a player.
Jones also spent a season at Nevada (2017-18) where he walked on and helped the Wolf Pack to a run to the Sweet 16.
Jones graduated from Texas Southern in 2021 with a Bachelor of Science in sports management with a minor in radio, television, and film.
