LSU athletic director Joe Alleva announced Friday that Johnny Jones had been relieved of his duties as men's basketball coach.
"Days like this are not fun. They are the worst part of my job," Alleva told reporters. "Particularly when you have to deal with a guy who is a friend and a great LSU person "I feel bad that it's ended this way, but I felt like the direction of the program - we needed a change. We're all about excellence and competing for championships and we weren't going in that direction."
Alleva says the search for Jones' replacement will begin immediately and will be similar to the process of finding a new football coach. "It'll have to take some time though, because most of the people we'll talk to will be playing in postseason play."
LSU finished the season at 10-21 with an opening round loss to Mississippi State in the SEC Men's Basketball Tournament.
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