Sophia Jones has always loved talking about basketball, specifically with her father.
Throughout her childhood in Miami, the two liked staying up late watching whatever West Coast game was. Mark Jones, her dad, is a longtime sports broadcaster, having covered countless NBA games over the years for ESPN and ABC. The two would go back and forth with opinions, the natural give and take of a father and daughter speaking a shared language. Jones would point out bad shot selections or criticize a play design; Mark would highlight the stories the crew would weave into the broadcast.
Advertisement
“It never really dawned on me that she might want to get into journalism and sports and television,” Mark said. “It should have been more obvious, I guess, now that I look back.”
In addition to watching and playing basketball whenever she could, Jones shadowed her dad and even sat in on some of his production meetings; Steve Kerr once let her attend such a meeting on her birthday.
A point guard, Jones earned a scholarship to San Jose State and enrolled in the fall of 2020. Her college career so far has been disrupted first by the fallout from a sport-stopping pandemic and then, last September, by a torn left ACL and meniscus. But the knee injury she suffered during a preseason practice has offered her an early look into a familiar path for her post-playing career.
While sidelined, Jones has been calling San Jose State women’s basketball games as a color analyst for the Mountain West Network, a position that previously hadn’t existed before her coach, April Phillips, set things in motion. Jones worked a handful of games over the final three months of the Spartans’ season, earning valuable hands-on broadcast industry experience while she rehabbed from her injury.
The work turned into a bright spot amid the Spartans’ 6-25 campaign. The highlight came on Feb. 25, in a game broadcast on NBC Sports Bay Area, when she worked alongside her dad. Dad did the play-by-play; daughter broke down the action.
“It was really surreal,” Jones said. “I’m used to kind of hearing my dad’s voice on TV. And this time, he was the voice right in my ear.”
But everything else felt normal. “We’re always just watching basketball, talking basketball,” she said.
Mark was grateful for the experience — nervous, too. Parents wants their child to do what they love and to be great at what they do. When the SJSU administration first called him about the opportunity, he couldn’t believe it.
Advertisement
“I said, ‘Are you kidding me? That’s going to be right up there with being able to call the NBA Finals last year between Golden State and the Celtics,’” Mark said. “It was incredible. I didn’t think twice about it. I did have to jump through hoops to do it.”
Asking ESPN to give him clearance so he could call the game for another outlet? Totally worth it. Working four games in four days to make it happen? Absolutely. Anything for a chance for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity with one of his three children.
Mark takes great pride in how hard his daughter has worked to improve as a sports broadcaster over the past few months. He tries to give her pointers and constructive feedback after games, noting crutch phrases, for example. He loves how much she loves the chance to tell athletes’ stories to the audience.
“As an athlete myself, sometimes I feel like a lot of us are reduced to just our sports,” Jones said. “I’ve always really admired how my dad would incorporate stories and try to humanize athletes as much as possible. I thought that that was something that I would love to do as well.
“It’s so hard when you’re rehabbing and recovering because you’re not doing things at nearly close to the same level that you used to. The fact that, throughout this whole year, I was still able to feel like I was improving in some aspects of my life helped me mentally.”
Jones, who is majoring in radio, television and film, says she’s grown more comfortable in the sports journalism world the more she’s worked. She’s also gained experience podcasting with Locked on Warriors, and as a freshman at SJSU she participated in the Sacramento Kings’ first all-female and non-binary broadcast, appearing in a pregame segment about Tyrese Haliburton and adjustments he’d made during his rookie season. She called Haliburton ahead of the game, peppering him with questions to prepare for her brief report.
Advertisement
“They just gave her one of these standard IFBs that you put in your ear, and when they came to her, the IFB was starting to come out,” Mark said. “Instead of fiddling with it, she just pulled it out of her ear and did her two-minute report. She was unfazed.
“All gas, no brakes. It was remarkable.”
Of course, Jones can’t wait to get back onto the court. Typically, the recovery time for an injury like hers is nine to 12 months, so she should be good to go next fall. The silver lining to an otherwise lost season may turn out to pay dividends then, too. She sees and thinks about the game differently now. Game prep and on-air analysis can do that, even for a self-described hoops junkie.
“The TV gig will make her a better basketball player — I really think that,” Mark said. “And when she gets back to being a full-time basketball player next year when she’s healthy, she’ll be a better broadcaster when she’s done playing.”
(Photos courtesy of Sophia Jones)
ncG1vNJzZmismJqutbTLnquim16YvK57k2twbWhgaXxzfJFsZmlrX2Z9cL%2FOqZ%2BimV2fvK%2Bx0maqo6ulYrqivspmoaimlah8