Brian Jones enters his fifth year as the UC Merced men’s basketball assistant coach and sixth year with the program overall. Prior to the 2018-19 season, Jones served as the student assistant in 2017-18 while earning his B.A. in Economics.
Jones has been a part of the winningest five-year stretch in program history and the Bobcats increased their winning percentage each of the first four years Jones was around. Jones has also been on the bench for the Bobcats’ trio of deep runs in the California Pacific Conference Tournament, including recently winning the 2020-21 Phase Two Cal Pac Championship trophy. He has also been a key part coaching the Bobcats nationally recognized defense, player development, recruiting among many other things.
With Jones on the bench, the Bobcats have become one of the most respected and dynamic teams in the Cal Pac and the team has set program records in multiple categories, including but not limited to field goal percentage, points per game, rebounds per game, blocks per game and scoring margin.
Jones originally joined UC Merced with seven years of experience, including hosting numerous camps in Merced County and serving as an assistant coach for the nearby El Capitan High School boys’ basketball team. Since then, Jones also served as the head coach at Stone Ridge Christian High School where he made many headlines in 2019-20 and took the program to new heights.
He began coaching at El Cap as an assistant with the junior varsity team in 2014 and quickly found himself assisting the varsity squad in 2016. In 2017-18, Jones helped lead the Gauchos, a team that featured former Bobcats point guard Angel Serena, to an outright Central California Conference Championship.
Along with his B.A. in Economics from UC Merced, Jones also possesses an A.S. in Business Administration from Merced College. Outside of coaching UC Merced and El Capitan, he is a teacher at El Capitan, has co-founded a youth basketball organization and runs his own clothing line, PHORGROATH.
