OSU coach returns home
Jay John returns to Arizona, his old stomping ground for pair of Pac-10 games this weekend
Kellen Hade
Issue date: 1/11/07 Section: Sports
If you told Jay John 25 years ago that he would be at Oregon State preparing his team to take on a tenth-ranked Arizona squad, he never would have believed you.
In fact, if you were to go back in time and stand in Coach John's -then, Mr. John's - classroom at Salpointe High School in Tucson, Arizona, he would have confessed he would be happy teaching kids the intricacies of gravity and cellular processes rather than instructing them on basketball's X's and O's.
"Never," John laughed, standing in the basement of Gill Coliseum. "No, never would I have anticipated being here right now. My intent and ambition was to become a physics and biology teacher and the varsity coach at my high school."
He returns home this week when the Beavers travel to Arizona to take on the Wildcats and the Arizona State Sun Devils.
An alumnus of Salpointe, John - who also has a Masters of Science and a Bachelors degree in biology from Arizona - quickly figured out his dreams would be long in coming unless he changed directions. "I was the freshman team coach and suddenly realized the varsity coach was only 34," John said. "He seemed pretty old when I was playing, but once I graduated I realized, 'Man, I am going to be waiting for awhile.'"
And so the high school teacher turned aspiring coach found a job as an assistant with Jamestown Community College, a small commuter school across the country in New York. After just four years, he was elevated to head coach of the Jayhawks, compiling a 41-19 record in two seasons. He was named the conference's Coach of the Year.
"I was very fortunate to be able to experience success early in my career," John said. "It showed me what it takes to win and perform at a high level."
The time was right to capitalize on his accomplishments. In 1990, after spending a year as an assistant at San Francisco, John, the desert native, accepted a coaching position at Butler and moved his family again, this time to the skyscrapers and urbanized Indianapolis. After helping the Bulldogs reach both the NIT and NCAA tournaments and secure a Horizon League title, John headed back to his alma mater.
In fact, if you were to go back in time and stand in Coach John's -then, Mr. John's - classroom at Salpointe High School in Tucson, Arizona, he would have confessed he would be happy teaching kids the intricacies of gravity and cellular processes rather than instructing them on basketball's X's and O's.
"Never," John laughed, standing in the basement of Gill Coliseum. "No, never would I have anticipated being here right now. My intent and ambition was to become a physics and biology teacher and the varsity coach at my high school."
He returns home this week when the Beavers travel to Arizona to take on the Wildcats and the Arizona State Sun Devils.
An alumnus of Salpointe, John - who also has a Masters of Science and a Bachelors degree in biology from Arizona - quickly figured out his dreams would be long in coming unless he changed directions. "I was the freshman team coach and suddenly realized the varsity coach was only 34," John said. "He seemed pretty old when I was playing, but once I graduated I realized, 'Man, I am going to be waiting for awhile.'"
And so the high school teacher turned aspiring coach found a job as an assistant with Jamestown Community College, a small commuter school across the country in New York. After just four years, he was elevated to head coach of the Jayhawks, compiling a 41-19 record in two seasons. He was named the conference's Coach of the Year.
"I was very fortunate to be able to experience success early in my career," John said. "It showed me what it takes to win and perform at a high level."
The time was right to capitalize on his accomplishments. In 1990, after spending a year as an assistant at San Francisco, John, the desert native, accepted a coaching position at Butler and moved his family again, this time to the skyscrapers and urbanized Indianapolis. After helping the Bulldogs reach both the NIT and NCAA tournaments and secure a Horizon League title, John headed back to his alma mater.
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