Big Sky Basketball: Top 10 head coaches of the century (2000-20)
By Joey Loose
8. Big Sky Basketball coach rankings – Brian Jones (North Dakota, 2012-2018)
While Jones spent 13 total seasons as head coach at North Dakota, there was plenty to like about the six years his Fighting Hawks spent in the Big Sky. Jones was a former assistant under Steve Alford, including a long run at Iowa before North Dakota hired him in 2006. In the following years, he coached North Dakota as they joined D1 and soon the Big Sky in 2012. There were no guarantees that the Fighting Hawks would compete in their new league, but Jones made sure of it.
North Dakota was immediately competitive, finishing in the top 3 in their first two seasons and making appearances in the CIT. Along the way, they made another CIT before real success in 2017. That year’s team won the regular season and conference tournament titles in the Big Sky, clinching the school’s first NCAA Tournament appearance. Jones won more than half of his Big Sky games and made this a competitive conference team more often than not.
The Fighting Hawks departed for the Summit League in 2018, though North Dakota struggled in Jones’ final seasons. He took an assistant coaching job at Illinois State last year and now tries to turn around things with those Redbirds. He did fantastic work introducing the Fighting Hawks to D1 athletics and making them a Tournament team; we shall see if he gets that second chance as a head coach someday.