Men's Basketball Head Coach Jeff Jones Named to NABC Silver Anniversary All-America Team

April 19, 2007

WASHINGTON - American University Head Men's Basketball Coach Jeff Jones has been named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches 2007 Silver Anniversary All-American Team, NABC officials announced earlier this month.

Jones was a point guard at the University of Virginia from 1978-82. He still holds the second spot in school history in assists, with 598. Jones led the squad in assists all four years in which he played, including leading the Atlantic Coast Conference in both his freshman and sophomore seasons. Jones was a leader on the 1980-81 Cavaliers team that spent four consecutive weeks at No. 1 in the Associated Press poll.

As Virginia's starting point guard, Jones led the squad to a four-year record of 102-28 (.785). Jones also has the distinction of being the only person to have won a National Invitation Tournament championship as both a player and as a coach.

Jones becomes the second person on the American University campus to earn the distinction of being on the Silver Anniversary All-American Team. Perry Wallace, Jr., a law professor for AU's Washington College of Law, was named to the team in 1995, along with Pete Maravich, Charlie Scott, Jim McMillian and Calvin Murphy.

Wallace, the first black player in the Southeastern Conference, led the Vanderbilt in scoring as a senior with 17.7 points per game. Wallace was drafted by the Philadelphia 76ers and the Kentucky Colonels. He never played for either team, instead playing in the Eastern League.

Located in Kansas City, Mo., the NABC was founded in 1927 by Phog Allen, the legendary basketball coach at the University of Kansas. Allen, a student of James Naismith, the inventor of basketball, organized coaches into this collective group to serve as Guardians of the Game. The NABC currently claims nearly 5,000 members consisting primarily of university and college men's basketball coaches. All members of the NABC are expected to uphold the core values of being a Guardian of the Game by bringing attention to the positive aspects of the sport of basketball and the role coaches play in the academic and athletic lives of today's student-athletes. The four core values of being a Guardian of the Game are advocacy, leadership, service and education.