“I’m here by the grace of God,” he said.
And “here” is a familiar place for Mississippi College coach Mike Jones, who will be on the sideline today when the Choctaws make their 10th straight appearance in the American Southwest Confer-ence Men’s Basketball Champion-ship Tournament.
While MC’s spot in the conference tournament might seem like an annual forgone conclusion, Jones’ appearance at Mayborn Campus Center was far from guaranteed.
A believer in regular cardiological checkups since his father’s death at the age of 47, Jones went in early November for a visit that changed his life and his team’s season.
“My cardiologist wanted me to have a (heart) catheterization done,” Jones recalled. “We were only two weeks away from the opener, so I told him we could do it after the season.
“He asked me to go ahead and do it and not wait, so I did. I had 70 percent blockage in one artery, 100 percent in another and about 85 percent in another. They took me straight from catheterization into the operating room.”
The bypass surgery and initial recovery process kept Jones away from the arena for about six weeks and out of coaching for even longer.
“Around mid-December, I went and watched some, and I wouldn’t say anything,” he explained. “Then in January, I would coach some during practice.
“I would get tired so easily and I still do. That’s one reason I’m still not doing all of the coaching.”
Associate head coach Don Lofton, the Choctaws’ head coach from 2002-06 - a span in which Jones focused solely on his job as MC’s athletic director - stepped into the top role in Jones’ absence and continues to handle several duties.
“He calls most of the plays, and I talk to the guys during timeouts,” Jones said. “And he is a very capable coach.
“I was never worried about the program after the surgery. It hurt that I couldn’t be a part of the team and be involved with the season, but I was never worried.”
While Jones is at times less animated on the sideline than he used to be - partly due to doctor’s orders - he says he’s the same coach he used to be, just with a different outlook on things.
“Anytime you go through something like this, it changes your perspective on life,” he said. “You learn to look at things differently.
“Our players have handled everything extremely well, and I hope they learned something from all of this, too. We try to do more than just teach basketball to our players, and maybe this year we did.”
As for the tournament that pits East Division top seed MC (19-5) against West fourth seed Howard Payne (13-12) in a first-round game at noon today, Jones admits the Choctaws probably need to win the title in order to reach the NCAA Division III Tournament - where they’ve advanced to the third round the last three years.
“I think we probably need to win it to get in,” Jones said. “And I think we’re certainly capable of it.”
But even if the Choctaws don’t hoist the trophy Sunday afternoon, just the fact that he is on the sideline this weekend is victory No. 447 for Jones.
edrennan@temple-telegram.com
