Basketball Coach Ben Jobe Says Farewell to Southern and the Game

By Nikki G. Bannister
Black College Wire

Nikki G. Bannister Coach Jobe is still handling business although he is leaving at the end of the semester.

Around 9:30 on a Monday morning in mid-March, Southern University Jaguars men’s basketball coach Ben Jobe prepares to leave his office for a doctor’s appointment across town.

“It’s . . . about 30 minutes from campus,” said Jobe. “Nothing major. Just making sure everything ticks.”

But before Jobe can leave, NCAA indoor long jump champion Brian Johnson, a former Southern Jaguars forward, comes in.

“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.

Saying farewell is something Jobe does more often now as he wraps up a 45-year career as teacher, mentor and basketball coach to hundreds of men, most at historically black colleges. Jobe spent 12 of those years as men’s basketball coach of the Southern Jaguars.

Jobe, who interrupted his time at Southern for four years at Tuskegee University in Alabama, also has been the head man at Talledega College, Alabama State University, South Carolina State University, University of Denver and Alabama A&M University.

The Fisk University alum (’56) got his feet wet with coaching in 1958 at Cameron High in Nashville, Tenn. Jobe says his drive toward success moved into high gear at Fisk because he was inspired by the examples of other accomplished black Americans who also worked there.

“I used to live with Langston Hughes and W.E.B. DuBois was our visiting lecturer,” Jobe says. “We had real people. That’s why I am going to Tuskegee to live. There is history there.”

The man who has made history himself, says that once he settles down in Tuskegee, Ala., he will help his wife Regina run her two gift shops. He also wants to spend more time with his two adult children Bryan and Gina, who once was a Southern University Dancing Doll.

“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 – one of Jobe’s proudest achievements.

“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 is modest about his success, attributing it to his teams. “Coaches don’t win ball games, it’s the players who win games.”

His players include former Jags Avery Johnson, who is with the Dallas Mavericks, and the late Charlotte Hornets guard Bobby Phills.

In 12 years at Southern, Jobe compiled a 209-141 record. He led the Jags to the NCAA tournament four times and went to the National Invitational Tournament once.

Besides head coaching stints at seven colleges, Jobe has 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. During 29 in the NCAA, he won its 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.

“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.”

Jobe would rather describe himself a teacher or a leader in education rather than a legend .

“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.”

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. I will come back to visit. After all, my heart is with Southern.”

Nikki G. Bannister attends Southern University and is sports editor of The Southern Digest.

Posted April 9, 2003