UNCG Men’s Basketball Coach Jones Named Ben Jobe Award Finalist
BOSTON, Mass. – UNC Greensboro (UNCG) men’s basketball Head Coach Mike Jones was named a 2022-23 Ben Jobe National Coach of the Year finalist, announced Monday.
The Ben Jobe Award, which is presented annually to the top Division I minority coach, is named in honor of one of the finest men to ever play college basketball.
Coach Jones is in his second year at the helm of the Spartans accumulating a record of 37-27 during his time in the Blue & Gold. This season he reached the 20-win mark with a 20-12 overall mark and a 14-4 SoCon record.
This was his sixth year with a 20-win record as a head coach, with five of them being at Radford. Jones was a finalist for the Ben Jobe award in 2014, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021.
For the Spartans, this was the sixth year with 20 or more wins in seven years.
Following the regular season, Coach Jones was named the coaches choice for SoCon Coach of the Year. Jones is UNCG men’s basketball’s second coaches’ Coach of the Year after Wes Miller earned the honor during the 2017-18 season.
The Spartans were tied for first in the conference for most of the season, leading up to the last week of play. The Blue & Gold were voted to finish third in the Preseason Coaches’ Poll and ultimately earned the third seed heading into the SoCon Tournament. Jones earned his 200th career win as a head coach on Wednesday, January 4 with a 73-61 win over Chattanooga at the Greensboro Coliseum.
UNCG finished its season ranked nationally in several statistical categories including: 24th in field goal percentage defense (40.5), 51st in defensive rebounds per game (26.56), 60th in scoring margin (7.6), 65th in three-point percentage defense (31.9), 68th in assist/turnover ratio (1.24), 70th in rebounds per game (36.88), 71st in rebound margin (3.6), 77th in assists per game (14.5), and 79th in turnover margin (1.5).
The Spartans led the conference in field goal percentage defense, rebound margin, rebounds per game, scoring defense, and three-point percentage defense.
The recipient of the 2023 award will be announced in March, in Houston site of the men’s NCAA Basketball Championship.
About Coach Ben Jobe & the Award
Coach Jobe is an icon in the history of basketball at Historically Black Colleges and Universities. He is best known as the head coach of the Southern University, a position he held for 12 seasons. He was also head coach at Alabama A&M, Alabama State, Talladega, Tuskegee and South Carolina State.
His record at Southern was 209-141 and included four NCAA Tournament appearances. He also coached the Jaguars to one NIT appearance, five SIAC championships, 11 SWAC titles and two NAIA Tournament Championships. Perhaps his most memorable moment as a coach was leading No. 15 seed Southern to a 93-78 win over No. 2 Georgia Tech in the first round of the 1993 NCAA Tournament. It stands as one of the great upsets in the history of the event. The recipient of the 2023 award will be announced in March, in Houston site of the men’s NCAA Basketball Championship.
The Ben Jobe award committee is a 30-member panel, consisting of five current Division I head coaches, five retired head coaches, 10 current athletic directors and/or conference administrators, five NBA scout and/or administrators and five collegeinsider.com staff members. Former Southern head coach Ben Jobe is the chairman of the awards committee.
2022-23 BEN JOBE AWARD FINALISTS
Amir Abdur-Rahim, Kennesaw State
Kevin Baggett, Rider
Kenneth Blakeney, Howard
Landon Bussie, Alcorn State
Jeff Capel, Pittsburgh
Speedy Claxton, Hofstra
Ed Cooley, Providence
Jason Crafton, UMES
Dennis Gates, Missouri
Corey Gipson, Northwestern State
Anfernee Hardaway, Memphis
Donte’ Jackson, Grambling
James Jones, Yale
Mike Jones, UNCG
Robert Jones, Norfolk State
Ritchie McKay, Liberty
LeVelle Moton, North Carolina Central
Daniyal Robinson, Cleveland State
Kelvin Sampson, Houston
Takayo Siddle, UNCW
Shaka Smart, Marquette
Jerry Stackhouse, Vanderbilt
Jerome Tang, Kansas State
Rodney Terry, Texas
Mike Woodson, Indiana
Courtesy of Denise Archetto
Assistant Athletic Director For Strategic Communications
UNC Greensboro