Concordia (Ill.) announced the appointment of Tyler Jones as its next men's basketball head coach. He succeeds Brian Sommerhauser who coached the Cougar men the previous four seasons.
“I am extremely excited about coming to Concordia and being involved in the challenge of building a successful program in a small college environment,” stated Jones. “This is a great opportunity for me, and I look forward to getting started.”
Jones served as an assistant coach to Dave Leitao at Division I DePaul University for three seasons and as head coach and general manager of the Connecticut Pride of the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) for five seasons. Before coaching in Hartford, Connecticut, Jones went to school and played basketball there at Trinity (Conn.).
“The philosophy of Division III has always been special to me, the idea that it emphasizes the overall collegiate experience,” states Jones. “It's a feeling, a flavor that's hard to explain to someone who hasn't experienced it. But, I do know that basketball was an essential part of my overall development at Trinity and, in the same way, I look forward to making basketball an important part in the lives of the student-athletes that I will coach at Concordia.”
In 1995 Jones was hired as the Connecticut Pride's director of operations. He was promoted to general manager two months later. Two years later, Jones became the Pride's head coach and led the team to three consecutive playoff appearances that included a league championship and a CBA Coach of the Year honor in the 1998-99 season. Jones remained at the helm until the team ceased operations in 2002, finishing with a career record of 118-85. The mark places him just ahead of current Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson (117-90 with the Albany Patroons).
In 2002 Jones joined Dave Leitao's coaching staff at DePaul, and the following three years on Chicago's Lincoln Park campus included two NIT appearances and a second-round NCAA tournament appearance in 2004 when the Blue Demons finished with a 22-10 record. When Leitao left to take the head coach's job at the University of Virginia in 2005, Jones opted to remain in the city with his family — wife Elise and the couple's four children (Tyler Jr., Sterling, Sloan and Sydney).
“We just felt like Chicago was a great place to raise a family and, in addition, Elise was expecting our fifth child (Hayden, born in November of 2005), so we decided to stay here.” Soon after, Jones took a position as a discipline coordinator at Lane Tech High School where he has remained up to the present.
Concordia (Ill.) went 5-20, 4-11 in the Northern Athletics Conference last season.