Former Texas Longhorns Assistant Coach Finds New Job

A former Texas assistant coach who served under Rodney Terry has accepted a new assistant coaching job outside the SEC.

Texas Longhorns head coach Rodney terry applauds as the Longhorns are announced in the NCAA tournament selection show at the University of Texas at Austin basketball practice facility on Sunday, March 17, 2024. The Longhorns were selected as the seventh seed of the NCAA Midwest region where they will play Colorado State or Virginia in Charlotte, North Carolina. | Aaron E. Martinez/American-Statesman / USA TODAY NETWORK

Texas basketball saw a shake-up this offseason after firing head coach Rodney Terry, quickly turning around and hiring new Longhorns head coach Sean Miller out of Xavier. With the loss of Terry, many of Texas basketball's assistant coaches from last season moved on from the team as well, including former assistant coach Byron Jones. Jones reportedly has found a new home, this time with Indiana State.

CBS Sports insider Jon Rothstein announced via X that Indiana State head coach Matthew Graves would be taking Jones on as an assistant coach for the upcoming season.

Jones currently has 26 years of coaching experience, two of which came with the Longhorns. Over the course of two seasons with Jones as an assistant coach for Texas, the team went 40-29 and made it to the round of 32 in March Madness during the 2023-24 season.

Texas head coach Rodney Terry yells to his team in the second half as the University of Oklahoma Sooner men's basketball team plays the University of Texas Longhorns on Jan 23, 2024; Norman, Okla, [USA]; at Lloyd Noble. Mandatory Credit: Steve Sisney-The Oklahoman | Steve Sisney for The Oklahoman / USA TODAY NETWORK

Outside of Texas, Jones had coaching stints with eight other universities, the most recent being Troy and Air Force, before coming to the Forty Acres. Jones has switched teams often in his career, staying five or fewer seasons with each team he has been a part of, other than Fresno State, where he was on staff for seven seasons. Indiana State now marks the 10th team Jones has joined since 1993.

Jones will be joining Graves in his second season as head coach at Indiana State. In his first year with the Sycamores as the head coach, Graves finished 14-18 on the season and 8-12 in conference play. The team finished eighth in the Missouri Valley Conference and saw a first-round exit in the MVC tournament in a loss to Southern Illinois.

With a new head coach approaching his second season, it could prove advantageous to the Sycamores to now have an experienced Jones on the coaching staff.