re: Grade Johnny Jones' 2013-2014 season

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Too many coaches have won in the first year

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How many of those first year winners took over a program that had been 40-55 overall and 12-36 in a average conference for the three years before their first year?

JJ has the highest winning percentage for a LSU coach in 60 years. That doesn't mean a lot after two years, but it is way too early to making any kind of decision on JJ.

Coach Jones himself? I'd go with a D, and that high only due to the promising start we got out to.

Based on talent on the roster, this team badly regressed as the season went on.

Look at all 3 Kentucky games, and 2 things become clear: we have plenty of talent that can play with anyone, and our coach didn't develop them and/or manage the game well when the stakes were high.

It is not reasonable to grade a coach after only two seasons. This is still a program in transition and will remain so for another year or two for better or worse.

Some would point to certain coaches who turned it around in a couple of season, but those are the exception. Many times that is based on one season with unique circumstances then the program levels out for a couple of years before its true identity emerges. Trent Johnson seemed to have turned it around in 2009, but three years later it was obvious he inherited a senior laden team which was healthier than the prior two seasons and won the SEC, but he was clearly a mismatch for the program.

Mike Krzezewski was 38-47 and 13-29 in the ACC in his first three seasons. He was 7-7 in year four and finally went 8-6 in year five. Every school in the SEC would have fired him after year three or four with that kind of record in today's landscape. In year six Duke was runnerup to national champion Louisville in the 1986 Final Four which featured our own LSU Tigers.

This is not to imply Jones will have similar success but to show that all coaches need more than two seasons before a reasonable judgment can be made. It may seem simple but life with 18-22 year old young men can take many turns before a culture is established and the persona of the program is set. Jones will either grow in the job or remain stagnant in the next two years.

C-

Kind of hard to grade a 19 win season lower than that. But 19 wins (for the talent level this team has) and being left HOPING for an NIT bid is, IMO, a tad bit underachieving.

C

C- I didn't see much of a change or improvement throughout the course of the season. The team seemed to be making the same mistakes at the end of the season that they were making at the beginning. Example, every offensive possession before halftime always seemed like more streetball 1 on 1 than a designed play to score.... CJJ would take a TO to discuss what?... Hopefully we we will see some changes coming in x and o's and also on playing defense which graded out an F this season... To be continued in 2015...

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I've often had the thought that those guys more or less coached themselves. We had leaders (e.g. Tas) talent and established chemistry.

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Yeah, we had a guy like Thornton who could create his own shot and in a variety of ways and really make tough, contested shots. And folks rotating to help on him freed us up for some good easy looks and put-backs for the rest.

Our crap offense wasn't exposed as much because of that.

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Also, you look at a team like Georgia who was absolutely awful pre-conference but who improved steadily as the year went on

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Perspective:

Mark Fox is in year five at Georgia.
84-75 overall 40-44 SEC

One NCAA appearance and kind of a fluke when the tornado interrupted the SEC tourney and the final were moved to GA Tech with only family and school officials in attendance.

Would Jones be retained if he has a similar record after five years?

II missed the year I guess, but the point remains that Mark Fox will be retained by Georgia. Would Jones fare as well if he has a similar record by 2017?