Johnny Jones officially hired as LSU assistant

By Hunt Palmer

Johnny Jones is coming back to LSU.

The former Tiger player, assistant and head coach has joined Will Wade’s first staff the school announced Friday

Jones has been the head coach at Texas Southern since 2018 where he’s posted a .647 conference winning percentage and made three NCAA Tournaments.

Come on Home, Coach!

Welcome back to The Boot, Johnny Jones!@CoachJohnnyJ12 | #BootUp pic.twitter.com/LfcKQoYuxt

— LSU Basketball (@LSUBasketball) April 10, 2026

Jones was the head coach at LSU from 2012 to 2017. His Tigers went 90-72 over five seasons and finished at least .500 in SEC play the first four before a 2-16 finish in league play that cost him his job in 2016-17.

For 25 years, Jones has worked as a head coach at the Division 1 level. He worked another 15 as an assistant, 12 under Dale Brown at LSU, two at Memphis and one under Eric Musselman at Nevada.

Jones, 65, is originally from DeRidder, LA., and played at LSU from 1980-1984. He joins Rick Stansbury as former SEC head coaches next to Wade on the LSU bench.

The transfer portal opened Tuesday.