A LOOK BACK AT THE GREATS: ADAM JONES

By BRANDON HURLEY

Sports Editor 

sports@beeherald.com

@BrandonJHurley

As Trey Tucker nears his scoring record, Adam Jones finds himself pursuing new basketball heights, this time from the sidelines a few miles south. 

The 1998 Jefferson-Scranton graduate currently holds the boys’ basketball all-time school record for points in a career (1,538) and is now in his second season as the Dallas Center-Grimes girls’ basketball coach. 

The father of four averaged nearly 25 points per game his senior year in Jefferson and played varsity from 1995-98. He garnered Raccoon River Valley all-conference honors three straight years, was named second team all state by the Iowa Newspaper Association his junior year and earned first team all-state recognition in his senior year. 

I had a chance to catch up with the sweet-shooting former Ram this week to get his thoughts on the 21-year old record. He expressed great respect for the young guard about to – excuse me if I don’t put this lightly – shatter his long-standing record. He also touched on life as a young head coach. 

“I’m happy for him,” Jones said. “Anybody that can score that many points has worked hard for it and has a passion for basketball. I respect him and it’s a good accomplishment.” 

Jones played basketball at the college level for the Beavers of Buena Vista University in Storm Lake, where he quickly developed into a four-year starter. 

He was named the 2002 Iowa Conference Most Valuable Player in his senior year, sporting a conference-best 19.3 points per game scoring average while guiding the Beavers to the conference title. The sharp-shooter finished his decorated college career as BVU’s all-time leader in three-point field goals made (269) and second on the school’s all-time scoring list (1,831 points). 

To cap it off, Jones was named a 2002 Division III first team All-American. 

His high school career is what really stuck with him, though. Jones remembers the close-knit feeling of being apart of a young team. 

“Looking back, you remember some of the big games, but (also) being involved with high school athletics and the atmosphere and playing with your friends,” he said. “Those are the things I remember most. The relationships I built more so than how many games we won.” 

Jones caught the coaching bug as his playing career came to an end. He’s spent every year since college graduation on the sidelines, coaching two years as an assistant at Guthrie Center before making the leap to Dallas Center-Grimes, where he’s spent 13 years teaching and coaching. The Northridge Elementary dean and counselor was a member of the boys’ basketball coaching staff before taking the head girls job. 

“I played at Buena Vista for four years and I was fortunate to have a great coach up there,” he said. “I always knew that I was going to be involved with basketball one way or another. So I went into teaching and coaching and made sure I was going to be involved with basketball.” 

Jones calls back to those relationships he remembers forming in high school athletics – it’s why he latched onto coaching so quickly. 

“I enjoy teaching basketball and having an impact on kids as they grow and head off into the real world,” Jones said. “I try to have an impression on as many people as I can.” 

The game certainly has evolved over the last 20 years – kids are more one-track minded and basketball- crazed, year round. The stars of the NBA don’t hurt either – LeBron James, Russell Westbrook and Steph Curry help promote the sport like never before. There’s a treasure trove of details Jones locked away in his brain in his 12 years as an assistant to prepare him for what the new age of coaching is like. 

“Had I been a head coach right out of college, it would’ve been different. But I was an assistant coach for the boys for 12 years before I became a head coach,” the former Ram said. “It’s definitely different from when I was growing up. Youth basketball has definitely grown.” 

Jones has compiled a 23-11 record as a head coach, guiding DC-G to a 16-6 record in his first season, losing to ADM in the second round of regionals. The Fillies are off to a 7-5 start this winter. 

The coach and his wife, Steph, have four kids together: Jackson, Jaden, Tessa, and Taeya. The family is big Iowa Hawkeyes, Mustang and Filly fans and like to spend time outdoors and playing sports. 

Both Tucker and Jones made a living from three-point range. While each could score in other ways, their shooting touch captivated – and continues to wow – crowds all over west central and northwest Iowa. Despite many detractors of the three point shot in recent years – Steph Curry’s willingness to pull up in transition and hoist 35-footers comes to mind – Jones feels the three-point shot only aides the game of basketball. 

“The three-pointer was one of my strengths as a players. So as a head coach, I think there’s always room for a shooter,” he said. “If you can score and shoot, it’s up to us to find a place to put you on the floor. I don’t think it’s a detriment to the game at all. If anything, it makes you a much more versatile team and much more difficult to guard.”

The coach now has a different perspective of how difficult it is to attain that many points in a career, 19 years later. 

“I had no idea (it would stand this long),” he said. “At the time, I had no clue. Looking back, as a coach, I haven’t seen many kids score that many points. The record I broke stood for quite awhile, I know.” 

Tucker has averaged at least 19 points a game every season since he became a starter as a freshman, and sits at 1,501 points for his career. He poured in a game-high 33 points Friday, Jan. 6 in a loss to Gilbert, bumping his scoring average to a conference-leading 22.8 points per game.  Tucker has at least 11 games left in the season, so substantial separation is to be expected. He has three cracks at breaking Jones’ record in five days, as the Rams play in Jefferson for the next week.

But Jones has nothing but good-will toward the accomplished Ram as he awaits the inevitable. Though he may not have a chance to speak to him personally, the young coach did have a few words to share. 

“I’d congratulate him. Anybody that scores that many points has dedicated a lot of time and effort,” Jones said. “You can’t just go out there and score that many points. It’s all earned. I think it’s great and I wish him the best.”