Goodman: Jones, Skinner 'in the mix' at BU

By Craig Meyer/DFP Staff

Recent developments in the Boston University athletic department's search for a new coach indicate that a collective eye may be cast a few miles west down Commonwealth Ave., as CBS Sports college basketball writer Jeff Goodman tweeted Monday that Boston College associate head coach Joe Jones and former Eagles head coach Al Skinner are both being considered for the vacancy left by Patrick Chambers when he became the new head coach at Penn State University.

Jones, 45, just completed his first season as an assistant under new BC coach Steve Donahue. Before arriving in Chestnut Hill, Jones was the head coach at Columbia University for seven seasons, compiling a 86-108 record in his time with the Lions. His final graduating class at Columbia totaled 26 Ivy League wins, the most conference wins for any graduating class since the class of 1994. Jones has also served as an assistant at Villanova University and Hofstra University.

A call from The Daily Free Press to Jones has not been immediately returned.

Below is a link to his biography on the BC athletics website:

http://bceagles.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/jones_joe00.html

Turning from a current Eagles coach to a former one, Skinner spent the last season away from coaching after he was fired by BC in March 2010. Prior to his termination, Skinner, 59, was a head coach for 22 seasons, with a majority of those seasons taking place at BC. In his 13 seasons at the helm of the Eagles program, Skinner went 247-165, a run that included seven NCAA Tournament appearances. His 247 wins are tops for any coach in program history.

However, Skinner's teams never advanced further than the Sweet 16 and missed out on postseason play altogether in two of his last three seasons. Additionally, after Skinner was ousted, Boston Globe columnist and BC graduate Bob Ryan published a column in which he dubbed Skinner "the least-hard-working guy in show business." The following is an excerpt from the column discussing Skinner's time commitment to the BC program:

Al works Al hours, arriving around noon, playing some pickup ball, and going to a practice that, more than likely, had been planned by an assistant. Don’t they know how infrequently Al is seen on the recruiting trail during the offseason, when games are really won and lost? Don’t they know that if you hire Al, you must supply him with a first-class recruiting assistant, one who totally understands Al’s likes, dislikes, and peculiarities? Don’t they know, that, when it comes to offense, Al is, ahem, inflexible?

Skinner had previously served as the head coach at the University of Rhode Island, where he spent nine seasons, tallying a 138-126 record with two NCAA Tournament appearances.

Full Court Press and The Daily Free Press will stay updated with any breaking developments in BU's coaching search.