After five years, the Johnny Jones era has come to an end.

The decision to fire Jones was made official at a press conference with LSU Athletic Director Joe Alleva on Friday.

“I met with Coach Jones this morning and told him he’d be relieved of his duties as our head basketball coach,” Alleva said.

“I’m sad that it ended this way, but with the direction of the program, we needed a change. We’re all about excellence and competing for championships and we weren’t going in that direction.”

Jones’ firing comes on the heels of his worst season in Baton Rouge, one that included a program-worst 15-game losing streak. The Tigers finished the season 10-21, with a 2-16 mark in conference play.

Jones will largely be remembered for suffering the ignominy of failing to make the NCAA Tournament with generational talent and eventual number one overall pick Ben Simmons last season.

He did coach the Tigers to an NCAA Tournament berth in the 2014-15 season, only to lose in their first tournament game to North Carolina State after leading by 14 at the half.

Prior to coaching at LSU, Jones coached at North Texas, amassing a record of 190-146 and two Sun Belt Conference titles.
Jones finishes his career at LSU with a 90-72 record, leaving the fourth-winningest coach in program history.