Tennessee associate head coach Tony Jones yells to his team during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against College of Charleston after coach Bruce Pearl was ejected in December in Knoxville. College of Charleston won 91-78. (AP Photo/Wade Payne)KNOXVILLE — Tony Jones admits he’ll have some nerves.
But the University of Tennessee’s associate men’s basketball coach expects neither the nerves nor the circumstances to hinder him in his head-coaching debut.
“Of course I’m going to be nervous, but it’s going to be a nervous fun, a nervous energy,” Jones said after the Volunteers finished practice Thursday in preparation for today’s Southeastern Conference opener at Arkansas (10-3).
“It’s something I’ve been doing for 17 years, and once the game starts everything will be fine.”
That’s the mindset the Vols (10-4) carry into their new territory under Jones. He steps in for coach Bruce Pearl, who was suspended for the first eight SEC games of the season for lying to NCAA investigators.