Jones leaves BC for BU

Jun 23, 2011 - 5:21 PM Boston, MA (Sports Network) - Boston University has named Joe Jones its new men's basketball coach.

Jones had been an assistant for one season at Boston College after spending seven years as the head coach at Columbia. He resigned from the Ivy League school in April 2010 after a record of 86-108 to take a spot on Steve Donahue's staff with the Eagles.

"Joe comes with impressive credentials and past head coaching experience that will help take the program to the next level," said BU athletic director Mike Lynch in a statement on Thursday. "I am happy to welcome Joe, his wife and their kids to the Terrier family."

Jones will take over for Pat Chambers, who left BU earlier this month to take the vacancy at Penn State. Chambers led the Terriers to the NCAA Tournament last season and posted a record of 42-28 in his two years with BU.

"I am truly honored to be named the next basketball coach at Boston University," said Jones. "We are going to play an exciting, up-tempo brand of basketball. I am looking forward to meeting the entire BU family and building on the rich BU basketball tradition."

Jones helped turn around a Columbia program that went 2-25 and was winless in 14 Ivy League games the season before his arrival and immediately guided the Lions to a mark of 10-17 with a 6-8 conference record in his first season of 2003-04. It was the third-best single-season turnaround in Ivy League history.

Before taking the reins at Columbia, Jones served as an assistant a Villanova from 1997-2003 and was an assistant at Hofstra from 1994-97.