Jones Named New Women’s Basketball Head Coach

The Viterbo women’s basketball team welcomes a new head coach for the 2018-19 season, Lionel Jones, who comes from Warrensville Heights, Ohio.

Jones started playing basketball when he was about seven years old and fell in love with the game. He didn't get involved with coaching until he was about 18 years old when he had the opportunity to coach a 7th grade summer team in Shaker Heights, Ohio.

“I really got bit by the coaching bug,” states Jones about his coaching experience.

The experience helped him realize that basketball was the sport he wanted to be involved in for life.

Before Viterbo, Jones previously came from Durand High School where he coached the varsity girls’ basketball team for the past 6 years.

The team had much success and it was both a family and community that Jones would miss very much in the future. Even so, Jones expressed his ecstatic feelings about coaching the women’s team at Viterbo from here on out.

With a strong background in coaching, Coach Jones gave a little insight about his philosophy on the game of basketball.

He explained that his overall philosophy of coaching is to find out the strengths of each player and to put them in a position on the court where they can be successful.

Being accountable to the team is one characteristic that is important to him, as well as understanding sacrifice. Jones explains these are the concepts that unify a team.

Though Jones likes to be laid back in some sense, both he and the team knows when it’s time to get serious.

“Sometimes it’s fun and games, but I demand a lot of discipline as well,” explains Jones. “I think our girls so far have really adapted to some of the things that I have brought to the table thus far.”

Jones explains that the transition is still a work in progress.

As mentioned, sacrifice is significant to Jones in basketball. To expand on this, Jones explains they have thirteen players on their team right now, and at some point during the season, they are going to have to sacrifice what they want for one of their teammates or the betterment of the team.

“It is the basic foundation of every team; if you don't have players that are willing to sacrifice for each other, then you don't have a team, and you will fail in your mission,” explains Jones. “The one thing that I truly believe in is that great teams have a common trend. In this case, the players are great teammates to each other and they handle the little things in life both on and off the court. This creates a great foundation to do what they need to do during games.”

From his experiences, Jones has never seen this formula fail, and it is something that he wants to stress and implement here at Viterbo.

“Basketball is a beautiful sport,” says Jones. “People from all socioeconomic backgrounds, races and creeds can get along and create great chemistry on the floor to accomplish a goal. I think that this is the biggest thing that has been taught to me through basketball and through sports. It is one of the instances where you can see diversity communicate and get a task accomplished. This is the main thing that basketball and sport has really taught me!”

Overall, Jones is excited about what Viterbo has to offer academically, as well as the potential that the basketball program has. Jones expressed his optimism about the work he plans to do.

“I'm ready to roll my sleeves up and get to work and see what we can create here at Viterbo.”