Johnny’s Last Stand University of Memphis fans should thank their classy interim coach. by Dennis Freeland Johnny Jones will always be a Tiger hero. Even if he doesn’t win a single game in the Conference USA tournament. Even if he never coaches here again, Jones has done the university and the city a tremendous service. Even if he has been just keeping the seat warm for John Calipari. Jones brought class and principle back to the head coaching job — something sorely missing the past two seasons. He went about his task with quiet dignity. He never blamed his team’s record on the hardships he and his staff had to endure. Many fans may not know it, but Jones implemented an entire new system over the course of the season. And the team’s turnaround on defense has been 180 degrees. Last year’s squad was probably the worst defensive team in modern Tiger history. Old habits die hard. I have never seen Jones lose his temper at a press conference. I’ve never seen him glare at a reporter. He always found time for fans and journalists. And he has acted this way under the most extreme circumstances, including the birth of his second child (in Baton Rouge) and the death of his father-in-law. There is nothing phony about Jones. At the end of the last regular-season game last week, Jones removed his seniors one-by-one. Keiron Shine, Aaron Mulvagh, and James Harris have not had stellar careers, but Jones greeted each with a warm hug that was representative of his feelings for the entire team. Compare that to last year’s final home game. When Omar Sneed made his last trip to the bench, Tic Price did not acknowledge him. Not even a nod of recognition for a player who carried Tiger basketball for two years. Johnny Jones makes his last stand at the U of M this week. I hope Tiger fans turn out to thank him for what he has done. And how he has done it. The Guarantee The noise you heard late Saturday may have been a collective sigh of relief coming from the Memphis Sports Authority. The U of M had just won its fifth consecutive game and had closed out the season playing the best basketball in Conference USA. For the sports authority, each late-season win was like money in the bank. Or at least money that would not be taken out of its account. In 1998 the authority guaranteed Conference USA $1 million to bring the tournament back to The Pyramid in 2000. Price had just completed his first season, finishing first in the National Division. Who could have known that, before the 1999-2000 season, Price would be forced to resign amid a sex scandal? Certainly not the sports authority. Unlike the two SEC conference tournaments Memphis has hosted, the C-USA tournament offered the authority an opportunity to make money. “There was a revenue-sharing agreement with Conference USA where there was a good chance we would have made money on this tournament,” says sports authority chairman Reggie Barnes. The bid was based on the inaugural C-USA tournament held at The Pyramid in 1996. That event averaged 14,000 for each session, according to Barnes, and made a profit. Early this week the 2000 tournament had sold only 9,500 tickets including those traded for goods and services. With the home team suffering through its second consecutive losing season, the authority will probably lose between $200,000 and $300,000. It won’t send the authority into bankruptcy, but it will “put a crimp in our future plans,” says Barnes. “We just have to absorb the hit. It was an unusual year.” Barnes, an Ole Miss graduate and supporter, has found himself rooting for the Tigers this year. He hopes Memphis makes it into the championship game, thinking that ticket sales will increase every step of the way. Tickets are $15 per session; $20 for the championship game. “If Memphis were to win three games and get into the finals, heck, we might sell the place out and make a profit,” Barnes says wistfully. “I don’t have one bad thought about this tournament,” he continues. “I’m glad they’re coming. This is the type of event we need in this city if we think of ourselves as a sports town.” With the number-one team in the nation playing and the Tigers on a five-game roll, maybe Memphis sports fans will help bail the sports authority out of its jam. TOURNAMENT NOTES … If Memphis makes it to the semi-final game they would be eligible for an NIT bid. If offered would the school accept? Memphis A.D. R.C. Johnson says that it will be up to Jones and the players. But why prolong the inevitable? The school could opt to quietly inform NIT officials that they aren’t interested. The top priority should be naming a new coach. … Will Memphis use the occasion of the conference tournament and all the media present to announce the hiring of John Calipari? “No comment,” says Johnson.