Troy Shantz Northern Collegiate’s Chris Jones has been coaching basketball in Sarnia for 25 seasons. But ask about his achievements on the court and he talks not about baskets sunk, but about character development. “It’s never about basketball.
Troy Shantz
Northern Collegiate’s Chris Jones has been coaching basketball in Sarnia for 25 seasons. But ask about his achievements on the court and he talks not about baskets sunk, but about character development.
“It’s never about basketball. It’s never about the sport you’re coaching. Whatever it is, your coaching is just the tool,” he said.
Nevertheless, the senior boys basketball team at Northern is on a tear and currently sports a 17-1 season record.
Jones and assistant coach Matt Cook have entered their squad in four tournaments this winter and won gold at three of them.
The most recent was the prestigious University of Windsor High School Invitational in December. Northern’s victory was the first by a school from Sarnia-Lambton in the tournament’s 60-year history.
Jones was a supply teacher at St. Patrick’s in 1991 when he started coaching alongside Barry Howson, a legendary local athlete and Canadian Olympian who also happened to be his old high school coach.
From there, he was hooked, he said.
Jones has also worked closely with local basketball titan John Thrasher at Northern.
“I went from working with Barry, and then to working with John. I don’t think anyone else has had the opportunity to work with both those guys.”
Jones also gives nods to Keith Sharpe at St. Pat’s, Peter Kaija at Great Lakes, Rick McLellan formerly at SCITS, and Joe Syer at LCCVI in Petrolia.
Northern has developed a basketball program that operates nearly year-round. Jones and Thrasher coordinate a four-week summer camp and a house league in the fall. It also runs a Valhalla school feeder program.
Though Northern’s trophy case has continued to grow under Jones’s leadership, Thrasher deserves the credit for building the program, he said.
“We always say the results are fleeting. They blow in the wind. You can’t control results but you can always control exactly what you’re doing in that moment,” he said.
As for what the future holds, Jones said the school has a lot of volunteer and faculty support.
“The program that’s here, it’s bigger than any one person,” he said.
“Whenever I leave, we’ll be in great hands.”
