LSU Finally Makes It Official – Former Head Coach Johnny Jones Joins New Coach Will Wade’s Staff

By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor

LSU is likely the first school in history to rehire not one, but two head coaches it previously fired, and one replaced the other.

On Friday, LSU finally publicly confirmed and released that new men’s basketball coach Will Wade has hired Johnny Jones, 65, as an assistant coach. Jones officially resigned this week from his previous job as head coach of Texas Southern, where he was the last eight seasons.

Reunited and it feels so good! @LSUBasketball @lsukent @CoachJohnnyJ12 #LSU pic.twitter.com/30aJdetc1L

— Jacques Doucet (@JacquesDoucet) April 10, 2026

Wade, 43, was rehired by LSU on March 26 after it fired him as head coach on March 12, 2022, after four seasons because of a major NCAA recruiting scandal.

Former LSU coach John Brady said Will Wade should never have been fired on Tiger Rag Radio. But there is a much better argument that Brady shouldn’t have been fired. https://t.co/qMi71g6xDu

— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) April 10, 2026

Wade became LSU’s coach the first time on March 21, 2017, replacing Jones, who was fired as head coach on March 10, 2017, after five seasons. Jones took LSU to the NCAA Tournament in his third season in 2014-15 with a 22-11 finish, including 11-7 in the SEC. He followed that with a 19-14 and 11-7 season in 2015-16, but was fired after the 2016-17 season when he fell to 10-21 and 2-16.

Both coaches were also involved in the only two major NCAA investigations of the LSU men’s basketball program with each ending up with NCAA sanctions.

Wade was found guilty of five Level 1 (most serious) recruiting violations involving a multitude of players while at LSU from 2017-22 and was fired the day the NCAA’s Notice of Allegations came out. LSU went on three years probation and lost two scholarships, while Wade received a two-year show cause, a 10-game suspension among other recruiting-related sanctions at his next head coaching job. That was was at McNeese State from 2023-24 and 2024-25 before he became North Carolina State’s coach for one season until his return to LSU.

Jones was not nearly the NCAA target that Wade was. Jones was an assistant coach under Dale Brown during the illegal recruitment of Lester Earl, who was a freshman on the 1996-97 Tigers. LSU went on three years probation and lost six scholarships over three years. That was inherited by new coach John Brady, who replaced the retiring Brown after the 1996-97 season.

Jones joins former Mississippi State head coach Rick Stansbury, whom LSU announced as Wade’s associate head coach on Monday. Stansbury, 66, did not coach this past season after being an assistant coach at Memphis in the 2024-25 and 2023-24 seasons. He previously was the head coach at Western Kentucky (2016-23) and at Mississippi State (1998-2012).

On March 30, Tiger Rag broke the story that Wade would be hiring Stansbury and Jones.

BREAKING: Former LSU head coach Johnny Jones and ex-Mississippi State head coach Rick Stansbury to be on Will Wade’s staff at LSU.https://t.co/8arUVSwrT6

— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) March 30, 2026

“We are pleased that we are able to bring Johnny Jones back home to join our staff at his alma mater,” Wade said in the LSU release on Friday.

So, on the floor next season at LSU basketball games will be three former LSU head coaches fired by LSU and rehired by LSU. Those are Wade, Jones and John Brady, who was fired during the 2007-08 season and has been LSU’s radio analyst for basketball.

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Jones, who was one of the top point guards in the country out of DeRidder High in the 1979-80 season, played at LSU from 1980-84 under Brown, including on Brown’s first Final Four team as a freshman in the 1980-81 season. Jones then was an assistant coach under Brown from 1984 through Browns’ retirement after the 1996-97 season.

“He knows how special LSU is as a school and how important the LSU brand is,” Wade said. “His knowledge of the game and recruiting ability will be an important tool for us as we move this program forward again.”

When asked about Jones and Stansbury joining his staff after his introductory press conference at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on March 30, Wade told Tiger Rag, “I can’t say anything at this point. And that’s not completely accurate.”

Jones took Texas Southern to one NCAA Tournament and a First Four play-in. While North Texas’ coach from 2001-12, he went to two NCAA Tournaments.

After leaving LSU following Brown’s retirement, he was an assistant coach at Memphis from 1997-2000 and at Alabama from 2000-01.