Stan Jones Position: Associate Head Coach

Stan Jones, a veteran coach and nationally-renowned recruiter, is in his seventh season as the associate head coach at Florida State University. He has been a successful coach at the highest levels of basketball for more than 20 years and is one of the top bench coaches and recruiters in all of college basketball. His record of success speaks for itself: the players and teams he has coached have reached tremendous heights while competing on the sports biggest stages. J Jones has been consistently recognized as one of the top coaches in all of college basketball throughout his career. He was named as one of the top 20 assistant basketball coaches in the country by FoxSports.com in 2008. He was selected to be a part of the elite group of assistant coaches from the input of more than 450 head and assistant coaches from around the nation. He was also recognized by his peers as one of the nation's top coaches in 2004 by Rivals.com.

With Jones on Florida State's bench the Seminoles have averaged nearly 18 wins a season and have advanced to the NIT in four of his six seasons in Tallahassee. The Seminoles have won at least 19 games in four of his six seasons and have won more conference games in the last three seasons then they did during the 2001-02 through 2004-05 seasons.

In his six years at Florida State, Jones has brought 13 National Top 100 recruits to Florida State and four players who were selected in the NBA Draft. He has coached two of the three All-ACC First-Team selections - Tim Pickett and Al Thornton - in Florida State history. Florida State's 2008 recruiting class is considered to be one of the best in school history and will be the cornerstone of the Seminoles' program for the next four years.

Jones is largely credited with the development of 2007 NBA Draft Lottery pick Al Thornton who came to Florida State as a little known freshman in 2004 and finished his career as one of the top players in school history. After averaging only 2.8 points and 7.9 minutes played as a freshman, Thornton left Florida State for the NBA as an All-America Third-Team and All-ACC First-Team selection, the runner-up ACC Player of the Year and the seventh-leading all-time scorer in Seminole basketball history. Thornton was named to the NBA All-Rookie Team in his first professional season. Jones's coaching talents have also been extolled for his work with Tim Pickett who came to Florida State as a junior college transfer and left as a First-Team All-ACC selection and an NBA Draft choice.

Jones has coached four NBA draft selections in his first six years at Florida State. Thornton was only the second NBA Draft Lottery selection in school history as he enjoyed one of the top all-around seasons in school history in 2007. Pickett, who earned All-America Honorable Mention and All-ACC First-Team selection during his two-year career at Florida State, was a second round pick of the New Orleans Hornets in 2004 while Von Wafer was a second pick of the Los Angeles Lakers in 2005. Alexander Johnson was an All-ACC pick and selected in the first round of the 2006 NBA Draft by the Indiana Pacers. The Seminoles were one of only two ACC teams who had at least one player drafted from 2004-07.

In his 12 years as a coach at the collegiate level, Jones has helped nine different teams into postseason play including four into the NCAA Tournament. He has also recruited and coached nine different NBA Draft selections including three first round picks.

Florida State has earned 11 wins over nationally ranked teams in Jones's tenure at Florida State. In 2008, the Seminoles defeated nationally ranked Florida for the second consecutive season and in 2007 Florida State earned three victories over top-25 ranked teams and four victories over teams that played in the NCAA Tournament. The Seminoles also defeated Duke on the road in 2007 to mark the first in school history they had won at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Additionally, the Seminoles defeated No. 1 ranked Duke on March 1, 2006 with Jones on the Seminole coaching staff.

Florida State's vastly improved play in the last six seasons has coincided with Jones's arrival and tireless recruiting efforts for the Seminole basketball program. His recruiting knowledge and efforts have helped attract the nation's top talent to play for the Seminoles. Jones helped attract five top-20 ranked recruiting classes to Tallahassee including the nation's No. 1 ranked class in 2003. Four different college basketball outlets - Rivals.com, the Official College Sports Network, Hoopmasters.com and the Louisville Courier Journal - ranked the Seminoles' recruiting class as the nation's best. It marked the first time in Florida State men's basketball history that the Seminoles had recruited the nation's top class.

Jones has coached four teams in the NCAA Tournament in his first 11 years as a coach on the collegiate level. Jones helped coach Miami into the NCAA Tournament during three consecutive seasons (1998-2000) and coached Mississippi State into the NCAA Tournament during the 2002 season. In both instances, at Miami and Mississippi, Jones helped both programs return to the NCAA Tournament after lengthy absences. In 1998, the Hurricanes made their first tournament appearance since reviving the program in 1985. Mississippi State, which also won the Southeastern Conference Tournament championship in 2002, had not been to the NCAA Tournament since 1996, a span of six years.

Jones helped lead Mississippi State to a school-best No. 3 seed in the 2002 NCAA Tournament. The Bulldogs also captured the school's second SEC Tournament championship with victories over No. 11-ranked Florida and No. 8-ranked Alabama in the title game.

Jones was also an assistant head coach to Leonard Hamilton with the Washington Wizards in 2001.

Jones began his collegiate assistant coaching career at Miami under Hamilton in 1996. During his career at Miami, he helped guide the Hurricanes to a 95-54 record for a .638 winning percentage. The 95 wins (19.0 wins per season) were the most in a five-year period for the program since the 1959 through 1964 seasons. Miami won 23 games in both 1999 and 2000 to mark only the third time in program history (and first time since 1964) the program had won at least 20 games in consecutive seasons.

In his final four seasons at Miami, Jones helped guide the Hurricanes to four postseason tournament appearances, a regular season Big East championship and the school's first ever NCAA Tournament "Sweet 16" appearance in 2000. Miami won a school record tying 23 games in 1999 on its way to the school's first ever top-10 national ranking. The Hurricanes were ranked No. 10 in the season ending Associated Press poll.

Jones, who will turn 49 during the 2008-09 season, is married to the former Olga Campos. The couple has a daughter, Shannon (26), a son, Adam (24) and a son-in-law Kass Bottini. Shannon and Cass are expecting the first grandchild for the Jones Family in March of 2009.