Know Your Team: Bill Jones
- Feb 2, 2019
- 2 min read
Windsor Express
Head Coach
2xNBLC Champion
2014 Coach of the Year
Using the wealth of his basketball knowledge and experience, Bill Jones has consistently shaped the Windsor Express into one of the most formidable forces in the NBL Canada.
Between 1984 and 1988, played in four consecutive NCAA Division 1 tournaments for the Iowa Hawkeyes and averaged 7.8 points and 3.3 rebounds per game. He then went on to play in his debut season for the Quad City Thunder in the Continental Basketball Association, making the Rookie First Team, and appearing in 37 games for the New Jersey Nets.
In 1990 he began a long and successful stint in France, where he would lead the league in scoring twice, both times playing for Montpellier. He went on to play full seasons for both Gravelines-Dunkerque and Paris before returning to the Quad City Thunder in 1994.
Jones played for three successive teams in Italy - Imola, Napoli and Rimini - before moving to Venezuela in 2000, where he capped off his twelve-year playing career winning the league championship with Gaiteros del Zulia.
His coaching career began in 2004, when he was made head coach of the Detroit Wheels in the American Basketball Association for one season. He returned to the team, now named the Panthers, in 2007, serving them for a further two years.
In 2011, he became the first head coach of the Windsor Express. Since then, he has become the longest continually serving coach of an NBL Canada team. He led Windsor to two consecutive first place finishes in the Central Division and two consecutive NBL Canada championship titles. In the Express's first championship season, he himself was named Coach of the Year.
From accomplished player to successful coach, Jones's name commands great loyalty among the Windsor Express organisation, as he has time and time again led the team to great things - among them their greatest achievements.
Picture: Nick Brancaccio
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