This feature originally appeared in the 2017-18 Winter edition of the Cal Sports Quarterly. The Cal Athletics flagship magazine features long-form sports journalism at its finest and provides in-depth coverage of the scholar-athlete experience in Berkeley. Printed copies are mailed four times a year to Bear Backers who give annually at the Bear Club level (currently $600 or more). For more information on how you can receive a printed version of the Cal Sports Quarterly at home, send an email to CalAthleticsFund@berkeley.edu or call (510) 642-2427.



Summer mornings in Inglewood in the 1980s brought a special sort of routine for the Jones family. Vera Jones would wake long before the sun was up before rousing her young sons, Wyking and Garry.
 
The first stop of the day was breakfast to go – a ham and cheese sandwich with orange juice – and by 5 a.m., she'd pull a Southern California Rapid Transit District bus out of the station. The two boys laid concealed on the floor until they were safely on the road, and then they'd sit up, coming out of hiding to eat their breakfast.
 
"We would be on the bus with her all day long for eight hours," Wyking said. "It was just part of the deal."
 
In a rough Southern California neighborhood with two young boys and a single mother, there really wasn't much choice on how to spend a summer day. Sometimes, Wyking would fall asleep and wake up hours later, embarrassed of the slobber down the side of his face from a too-comfortable nap in the well-worn seats. Other times, he would chat the hours away with the bus route regulars.
 
Those endless hours spent cruising the streets of Los Angeles on bus route 105 would help Jones develop some of the traits that propelled him toward eventually becoming head coach of the Cal men's basketball program – his sense of duty, his ability to carry a conversation with anyone and, most importantly, his commitment to a family-oriented culture.
 
The oldest in a family of seven children, Jones realized early on his role as a leader and protector to his siblings. In elementary school, he was jumped by a gang member who stole candy bars he was selling for a school fundraiser. With drug use and gang violence rampant in Inglewood, Jones acted as caretaker for Garry, who's a year and nine months younger. He walked him home from school, helped him prepare food and took care of the house before his mom got home. Jones relished the responsibility.
 
"I'm a very optimistic person, so there is always some good to things we sometimes perceive as bad," Jones said. "For me, it was kind of cool to grow up in an environment where you always had to be on guard because it taught me how to protect myself, it toughened me up, and it taught me street smarts."
 
Vera married when Wyking was 12. He inherited two brothers before she gave birth to another three boys and then a girl. Alongside his mom and stepdad, Luther Harper, Wyking helped care for the household. With his maturity level beyond his years, Vera gave her eldest son a long leash.
 
"She knew I wasn't the type of kid that was going to be out drinking or smoking or doing anything like that," Wyking said. "She knew wherever I was at I was probably just hanging out with my friends."
 
By high school, Jones had established himself as one of the best players in his age group, leading St. Bernard High School in scoring and rebounding as a junior and senior, and earning all-section honors both seasons.
 
"Wyking the Viking," as he was known, was excelling off the court, too.
 
"I always take exception to the fact that people would think because I'm an athlete that I'm not supposed to be smart, so that really fueled me to prove to others that I'm just as capable in the classroom," he said. "More than anything it's just the competitive nature that I have. I'm internally driven to be the best and get the most of my potential. Outside of that, I'm a competitor. I want to win and getting good grades to me is winning."
 
Jones was even recruited by the Golden Bears, but with his stepfather diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, he chose to stay close to home and attend Loyola Marymount. His stepfather passed away during his freshman year, and Jones further developed into his role as the family patriarch.
 
"With my younger siblings, I'm kind of like a father figure to them," he said. "I'm the person that gives them advice and they kind of look up to me in that regard."
 
At LMU, Jones also continued his development as a leader, averaging 19.7 ppg and 8.0 rpg as a junior to earn first-team All-WCC and LMU Student-Athlete of the Year honors. He closed out his Lion career with 1,076 points, 25th in program history, and 493 rebounds, 24th all-time.
 
It was at a party his senior year where Jones met a "feisty, independent and spunky" senior student from UCLA named Estrella. The two stayed together when Jones graduated and pursued a professional career across the globe, eventually marrying. Estrella received a master's degree from UCLA, then joined Jones in Japan, where they later learned they were pregnant with son, Jameel. A few years later, daughter Zoey followed.
 
Since then, the family has moved around the country as Jones built his coaching résumé. Though he enjoyed tremendous success as an assistant coach – even winning a national championship and participating in two Final Fours – both he and Estrella always knew they wanted to make the Golden State home again.
 
When an assistant coaching job at Cal opened in 2015, he jumped at the chance.
 
"We wanted our kids to be in a place where they could experience that diversity," Jones said. "There are not a lot of places like the Bay Area – where social issues are right in your face, sexism issues are in your face, religious issues are in your face, political issues are in your face – and so if you want to raise a family, our idea was that we want a son and a daughter that can navigate through the world as adults. There's no better place for them to learn that than here."
 
It was that same passion for the Bay Area, and for a campus not without its fair share of challenges, that made Jones such an attractive and viable candidate for the head coaching job when Cuonzo Martin resigned last March.
 
With extensive roots in Berkeley – Estrella was born and raised in the city, with several family members attending or working at Cal – Jones and his family are committed to making the area and University feel like home for the roster of student-athletes he leads. Taking a cue from his own college coach, John Olive, the Joneses just purchased a home in Oakland's Montclair neighborhood, with plans in mind to host the team for dinners, sporting events and holiday gatherings. Just a few weeks into their move, the Joneses christened their new place with a baby shower for strength & conditioning coach Jordan Jackson and his wife, Kendra.
 
"I've always wanted my program to be a family," Jones said. "When a parent allows their kid to come play for you, they're turning that young man over to you, so it's important that it's not just basketball. I have to be able to show you that I care more about than just what you give me on the court. I want you at my house to come enjoy a meal. I want you at my house to hang out with my kids and we watch a TV show or a sporting event.
 
"I think those are the things that lead to success – when everyone is on the same page, everybody has each other's back and everybody cares for each other. That's what leads to successful seasons."