COLUMBIA'S JOE JONES RECEIVES MID SEASON MID-MAJOR HONORS

Jan. 3 2005

>>> Iowa's Steve Alford grabs mid-season honors

In his second season at the helm, Joe Jones has opened some eyes with the play of his Columbia Lions, which earned him the Jim Phelan mid season Mid-Major coaching honors.

The Lions jumped to a 2-0 starting, winning two games vs. Division I teams to start the season for just the first time since 1974. The last time the Lions started the season with two wins of any kind was in 1998-99 when they defeated Holy Cross and N.J. Tech.

And Columbia?s 3-0 start was its best since the 1979-80 season.

Under the direction of the former Villanova assistant, Columbia finished the 2004 calendar year with a 7-3 mark and are just three wins shy of reaching their win total from a year ago.

Jones edged out Tom Pecora (Hofstra), Mark Few (Gonzaga), Ronnie Arrow (Texas A&M-Corpus Christi) and Scott Sutton (Oral Roberts) for the honors.

The mid-season coaching honor is awarded in conjunction with the Jim Phelan Coach of the Year Award, which is handed out annually by CollegeInsider.com. The National Coach of the Year will be announced in March 2005. Previous recipients include Rob Barnes (Mississippi), Rob Evans (Mississippi), Bob Huggins (Cincinnati), Greg Kampe (Oakland), Mike Krzyzewski (Duke), Phil Martelli (St. Joseph?s), Bo Ryan (Wisconsin) and Mark Slonaker (Mercer).