Fayetteville’s Tony Jones couldn’t turn down an opportunity to coach basketball in his hometown

Once he got a taste of being a head coach, Tony Jones knew he wanted another chance to lead his own program. 

After six seasons at UNC Pembroke as a college basketball coach, including one year as the interim head coach, Jones was offered the opportunity to take over the boys’ basketball program at Seventy-First High School. 

The 28-year-old Fayetteville native simply couldn’t turn down the chance to direct a team in his hometown. 

“I really enjoyed being a head coach,” said Jones, who guided the Braves to their first outright regular-season title in program history as the interim head coach in 2020. 

“I’m from Fayetteville, my family’s in Fayetteville and the school is basically right up the street from where I live. Basically, it’s an opportunity to come back to my hometown and give back.”

Seventy-First, which made the announcement April 30, will now have a former Peach Belt Conference Coach of the Year leading its program. 

MORE: David Simmons, who won more than 250 games as the Seventy-First boys’ basketball coach, resigns to take new job

A Cape Fear High School graduate, Jones quickly became familiar with the basketball scene and in forming relationships with people throughout Cumberland County. 

“I know a lot of the coaches around Fayetteville and just being in this area, I’ve loved it,” said Jones, who graduated from UNCP in 2015. 

“I’ve been in Fayetteville my whole life and I went to school 45 minutes away (in Pembroke). It’s just a great city, the people have always been great and the community has always been great to me.”

In his one season as a head coach, Jones learned to balance his coaching philosophy with input from his players. 

“Coaches seem to have an ego at times. We think we’re right or we know what’s right,” he said. 

“At Pembroke (in the 2019-20 season), we lost our first conference game and it was basically because of me. I was overcoaching and I thought I knew what they wanted and what they needed. After that loss, we kind of sat down and talked and they relayed what they were thinking. After that, we went on a run.”

As he heads to the high school level, Jones hopes his college experience can better prepare his prep players for their lives beyond high school. 

“It’s just the focus of the young men. I’ve noticed when we’d have guys coming in from the high school level to the college level, they’re not really prepared,” Jones said. 

“Whether it’s sending emails professionally, knowing how to tie a tie … just the mentality of being a professional at all times or whenever it’s needed.” 

Forming those relationships with the players is at the top of Jones’ to-do list. 

“Wherever it takes them, I just want them to be better and I don’t want them to leave the same way they came in,” he said. “That’s the biggest thing for me, just getting these young men and preparing them for the real world. It’s very different once you get done playing basketball.”

Jones takes over a Falcons program that finished with a 4-7 record under interim coach Brandan Barabino in the shortened 2021 season. Barabino replaced longtime coach David Simmons, who resigned in December 2020 to accept an administrator job in Cumberland County. 

A five-time coach of the year in his 13 years as head coach of the Falcons, Simmons led the program to six regular-season conference titles, four tournament titles and three 4-A sectional championships to go with three crowns in the Cumberland County Holiday Classic. 

Seventy-First is set to return its top seven scorers, including six rising juniors in Jared Davis, Jakoi Hassell, Randy Dockery, Cam Shelton, James Scott and Derrick Green.

“From what I’ve learned, they’re very respectful kids. The main thing is they want to learn and they want to win,” Jones said. 

“Coach Simmons had been there for 20-plus years and had a winning tradition. I want to bring the same thing, but at the same time I want them to be realistic and understand what level they can play at.

“I know a lot of kids think they wanna be DI but I’ve been around the college realm for a while and I can tell if a kid is DI, DII, DIII or whatever the case may be. They all want to learn and they’re all eager to play.”

That’s why it made sense for Jones to make the move from college to high school.

The call to help kids in his hometown on and off the court was too loud to ignore. 

“I did play in high school but that’s where it stopped. A lot of these coaches have played at the college level, but I didn’t get a chance to go that route,” he said. 

“I want to let them know that I’ve never played college ball but I’m a successful coach and can be successful at other things besides just basketball. This stuff is bigger than basketball, even though I want them to pursue being a basketball player at whatever level.”

Staff writer Rodd Baxley can be reached at rbaxley@fayobserver.com.