A Legend is Leaving…

It is around 9:30 a.m. on a Monday morning in mid-March and Southern University Jaguars men’s basketball coach Ben Jobe is in his office and preparing to leave for a doctor’s appointment that is across town in the city of Baton Rouge, La.
“It’s off Essen Lane, that’s about 30 minutes from campus,” said Jobe.
Before he leaves, former Jaguars forward and current NCAA indoor long jump champion Brian Johnson comes through the door.
“I just came by to say hello and to see how you were doing,” said the junior classman.
“Hey there, now didn’t you do something really special up there in Arkansas not too long ago?” asked Jobe.
“Yes sir. I placed first in the long jump and I have got the third longest jump in the world this year,” said Johnson.
“Now, that’s something to write about…” said Jobe.
Not to take anything away from Johnson and his steady list of accomplishments, but very few will argue that he will not be in future newspaper issues. But for one to understand his future a past must be remembered and Jobe’s past and presence in the game of basketball is definitely noteworthy.
Effective the end of the 2003 spring semester, Jobe will leave behind the world of basketball coaching and join the retirement community after 45 years of coaching, of which 29 were in the NCAA, including 12 at Southern.
The Fisk University alum (’56) got his feet wet with coaching in 1958 at Cameron High in Nashville, Tenn. According to Jobe, his background for success started at Fisk, where he was among some of Black America’s most prolific figures.
“I used to live with Langston Hughes and W.E.B. DuBois was our visiting lecturer. We had real people. That’s why I am going to Tuskegee to live. I want to live with the ghosts of Booker T. Washington and George Washington Carver. I want to live where there is history and the people who made history had dreams, ideas and ideals. That is who I am, I am an incurable idealist. But that is my weakness, but it is also my strength.”
Is being an idealist such a bad thing? After all, only an idealist would believe that a school like Southern University would defeat Georgia Tech 93-78 in the first round of the 1993 NCAA Tournament.
“Those men, along with the rest of that team…That was my Georgia Tech team,” said Jobe. “That was one of my favorite teams.”
Jobe has modestly dismissed his success and stated that his players have made him the person he has become.
“Coaches don’t win ball games, it’s the players who win games,” said Jobe.
Such players include former Jags Avery Johnson, who is currently with the Dallas Mavericks and deceased Charlotte Hornets guard Bobby Phills.
Jobe’s tenure at Southern has been to say the least, a productive one. His record at Southern is 209-141 and spans 12 years at Southern. He commandeered the Jags to the NCAA tournament four times and went to the National Invitational Tournament (NIT) once.
Overall, he has been the head man at six colleges and universities (he has even coached in Sierra Leone, Africa and with the Denver Nuggets), earning an overall record of 531-357 (.672). He has won five Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championships, 11 Southwestern Athletic Conference Championships and two NAIA Tournament Championships. He won his 500th game at Tuskegee University in January 2000. He has been selected as Coach of the Year by various collegiate and coaching organizations 16 times and won the NCAA scoring title in 1991, 1993 and 1994.
“I think that says a lot,” said Jobe. “I just didn’t win at one school, I won at six.”
Last season, the Jags went 9-20 overall and 5-14 in the SWAC. Despite the losing record, the Jags managed to make it to the first round of the 2003 SWAC tournament, but lost by one point to Prairie View 56-55.
His squad from last season is reluctant to see him go. There is a melancholy atmosphere around Jobe, now that he has packed up most of his belongings.
“It’s disappointing,” said sophomore guard Travyean Scott. We are going to miss him telling us how he feels at the moment-the honest truth.”
Others on the team looked at Jobe not only as a coach, but as a teacher.
“It was good playing for a legend. I learned a whole lot from him, especially about life,” said sophomore forward Jarvis Vaughn. “I wished he would have stayed to coach me for all of my four years.”
A legend, Jobe does not see himself; he would rather see himself as a teacher or a leader in education.
“I was just doing what I was blessed to do,” said Jobe. “But I feel that I taught a lot of people on the way.”
Regardless of what he might feel, only legends get the accolade Jobe does. This includes the prestige of being considered as one of the NCAA 200 best coaches in the last 100 years of collegiate competition. He also has the opportunity to be voted as one of the ten greatest coaches in that field. Five hundred voters representing various basketball and athletic organizations will vote from the field of 200 to select the top ten coaches. The results will air on Sunday at 12:30 p.m.
His career has been one of variety, but Jobe has special sentiments about his career at Southern.
“It’s been a wonderful career coaching and there has been a lot of glory coaching here at Southern,” said Jobe. “I am truly blessed to have had the opportunity to coach such talented men…But, I will come back to visit, after all, my heart is with Southern.”