July 3, 2008 Issue                                       

©2007 The Chestnut Hill Local

Brandon Jones returns to GFS to coach
by Justin Goldman

Sometimes you just have to follow your heart and do what feels right. That is what Brandon Jones, Germantown Friends class of 2000 said to himself after he decided to leave his lucrative job at the Philadelphia Stock Exchange and return to the school the gave him a head start in life.

Jones, 27, a Mt. Airy native decided several weeks ago to return to GFS after it was announced that the Stock Exchange was going to be sold. Despite the pay cut, the decision to return to the school as the assistant athletic director was not as hard as one may have thought.

“I really wanted to come back,” he explained. “GFS did so much for me, that I wanted to find a way to get back there and do things for other kids.”

Jones was a standout athlete at GFS for four years. He won athlete of the year his junior and senior year and during his senior campaign, he was the MVP of the basketball and track teams. He was also on the last GFS basketball team to make it to the Friends League finals as a starting freshman point guard in 1997.

Even though he has worked at the Stock Exchange for the last four plus years, Jones has always kept GFS close to his heart. He started coaching there in the basketball program as the varsity assistant in 2004. He would get to work at the Exchange by 6:30 a.m, just so he could leave earlier and get to practice on time. He kept that same position for three more seasons, and in 2007 was named junior varsity head coach which was an absolute thrill for him.

“Being a head coach was so exciting,” he said. “I knew how much I liked coaching, but this was the first time everything was on me. It was all my plays, my rotations, my everything.”

Even though he was having a good time coaching, it came with a bit of a price. After GFS head coach Bill Dooley left to go to CHA in 2008, Jones had to reassess his role with the Tigers. Dooley asked Jones to come work for him, but as he put it “I bleed navy blue, not baby blue.” At that point in time, he decided to take a promotion as a project manager at the Exchange. At this point, he knew he would have to give up coaching which was much harder than he expected.

“When the games started (this season), I really started to miss everything,” he said. “And I mean everything. Practice, games, not being able to converse with the guys every day. I just was really itching to get back.”

For Jones, coaching seems to be something that comes naturally. Even at his time at GFS he saw himself becoming a coach. As the point guard on the basketball team from 1997-2000, he was always an extension of the coach on the floor; he always had a commanding presence about him. When he spoke, everyone listened.

But it wasn’t until his senior year at Franklin and Marshall College that he really found his niche. Sidelined because of back surgery, F & M head coach Glenn Robinson asked him if he wanted to be an assistant. Jones accepted but did not realize how much he would fall in love with everything.

“I scouted, broke down film, helped in practice — all the knitty gritty kind of stuff. I realized that I had found myself. Being able to coach and stay close to the team really alleviated being injured and not being able to play.”

But Jones got lucky. The pain in his back subsided and he returned for the end of the Diplomats season. The year before his injury, he won the Lacy Lynchpin Award, given annually to the player that is most important to holding the team together.

As Jones transitions back to GFS, he is looking forward to getting back into coaching and helping out everyone, especially young African-Americans.

“Coming from a public school (Jenks) I didn’t know much about studying hard and staying on top of things,” he said. “Luckily, I had mentors like Ken Aldridge (a chemistry teacher at the time, now the principal of the middle school) that guided me through. I hope to achieve that same kind of relationship with other students.”

Jones also hopes to increase the popularity in men’s basketball which was decimated by a lack of numbers this season. There were only 20 kids that initially came out for hoops which was astonishing to Jones. During his senior year, there were three full teams in the high school, and this season there was barely enough players for two.

Also during his senior year, there was no question what people did on a Friday or Saturday night, everyone came to games. While the attendance at games is still decent, Jones wants to get it back to that electric atmosphere that he remembers so fondly.

“I want to start early, talking to lower and middle school kids about basketball,” he explained, tossing a little Nerf ball in the air. “I remember my senior year during track season, I high-jumped 6'2''. The next day Tom (Myran, the track coach) had a string outside the athletic office that was six feet two inches long, with a note next to it that said ‘Brandon jumped over this.’ I remember kids being astonished by that and coming up to me, asking how I got that high. I think little stuff like that can help the popularity of basketball.”

For now, Jones is just excited to get back to the school that helped him get a head start in life. He realizes that his plans will take time, but he is excited to get started and get things in motion. He looks forward to teaming up with Micah Hauben, the boys athletic director and Katie Bergstrom, who holds the same position for the girls, and brainstorming on ways to try and enhance all the programs.

Jones, who is restless and antsy continues to pace through his Germantown apartment as we talk. He is just so excited to go back to where it all began. He realizes how important GFS was to him, but going there almost didn’t happen.

“I remember I was playing against David (Wade, headmaster Dick Wade’s son) in a Chestnut Hill Father’s club game and his dad and my dad started talking, and Mr. Wade casually asked my father what my high school plans were,” he toted with a smile. “I then visited the school and took the test. I was so happy when I got in, but it was an enormous adjustment for me.”

Despite attending GFS, he was actually still enrolled at Central. His name was actually called in a gym class on the first day of school with the Lancers and he remembers getting a call from a friend asking him where he was.