“Tracee Jones – Deal or No Deal?” With those words, uttered by Howie Mandel, host of the NBC game show “Deal or No Deal,” Jones, the personable coach of the Tennessee State women’s basketball team, faced a decision. Jones could accept an offer of $265,000 in exchange for turning over a briefcase that might hold $1 million. Jones took the sure thing – only to discover that had she played to the game’s conclusion, she would have become an instant millionaire. Not long after her appearance on the show, Jones, 30, talked about her Hollywood experience, as well as an even bigger challenge: turning around the fortunes at her alma mater, which was 0-27 a year ago.
Anthony Cotton: Are people acting like they’ve known you forever now?
Tracee Jones: Oh, yes! I have lots of new friends, I have lots of new family members and lots of long-lost cousins. It has been pretty entertaining these last seven days.
AC: The shows you appeared on aired Oct. 30 and Nov. 2. When did you actually tape them?
TJ: I taped the first show in the last week of August. Everyone else only had to wait three days for the outcome – I actually had to go home for three weeks. Then we went back and taped the second portion in mid-September.
AC: Why was that?
TJ: We had to come back home because the models (who open the briefcases worth anywhere from a penny to $1 million) have a union contract stating how long they can work, and my first appearance happened to be at the end of their work time. So they had to take three weeks off before they could come back.
AC: And in between, you really had no idea what was going to happen?
TJ: No, I was at home, knowing I had turned down $130,000 and wondering why I had done that.
AC: But in the end, you kind of, as they say, left a little money on the table …
TJ: I did! (laughs) Just a little.
AC: How much have you replayed this in your mind since it happened?
TJ: I’ve had lots of time to kind of go through that. I really struggled right when I finished the taping, as you could see when I kind of collapsed. But I was really OK afterwards. One of the things Howie Mandel said to me after it was over was that I’d played a great game and that I shouldn’t worry because I never would have gotten to (the million-dollar case). And he was right. When they show you what was left (after accepting the deal), when they opened up the $500,000 case, I know I wouldn’t have kept going. Ultimately, I would have gone home with less money, because I would have taken their offer of $231,000.
AC: Well, that’s a good way of looking at it.
TJ: Right. I don’t feel bad. I always felt like I had $1 million in my case, but I kept thinking, “But what if I don’t?”
AC: I blame your boyfriend (Charles Wells, who urged Jones to take the deal for the money).
TJ: You do? But you know what? At that point, I was just looking for some sound advice because I had no idea what I should do. I was completely unsure, so when he said if I wasn’t sure to take the deal, I just thought a bird in the hand was worth two in the bush. What if I didn’t have that million?
AC: Did you have to clear it with the NCAA before appearing on the show?
TJ: No. It wasn’t anything that the team was involved in. The producers at NBC did contact the NCAA because they wanted to bring my team to the taping, but that was considered an extra benefit, so they couldn’t. They could only show them on satellite on a video picture. They were upset because they thought they were going to L.A.
AC: And then, the most important thing. On the show, you said you needed a “coach’s car.” Have you gotten it?
TJ: No, I haven’t gotten the coach’s car. I still haven’t gotten the money.
AC: Where’s the money?
TJ: They have a pretty big window for when they have to pay you from the time your show airs, so you don’t really get a date.
AC: Really? I think NBC has enough cash lying around that they could afford to cut a check right away.
TJ: They probably do, but I think it’s a great idea that they don’t, because I have changed my mind 20 times about what I’m going to do with the money.
AC: Do we get the Tracee Jones Chair at Tennessee State?
TJ: We might, who knows? It’s been fun. I definitely think it’s good that you don’t leave with it, a lot of people probably would have spent it before their show even aired. It certainly gives you some time for a thought process and to make some better decisions.
AC: Let’s talk about this season. After you go 0-27, I guess it’s a pretty clean slate.
TJ: I am so proud of the work this team has put in already – we’ve been trying to change the thought process. The freshmen last year struggled to understand why we went through the season we had last year. We’ve worked really hard to get them to understand that we still have opportunities, and they’re determined to help us change women’s basketball at Tennessee State. And the recruiting class that I brought in for this season were recruited at the time we weren’t winning games, so they understand that they are very special to me in terms of what we expect. We’re still young but we’re ambitious and hungry for these wins.
AC: You were an interim coach twice before getting the job. How did that happen?
TJ: The first time, I was an assistant coach and the head coach moved into administration. So for three months, when they were getting ready to open up the search, I volunteered for the position. I applied for the job and interviewed, but I didn’t get it. At the end of the next year, the coach who got the job was fired; I had gone through a program through the Black Coaches Association called ACE (Achieving Coaching Excellence). It’s for minority assistant women’s basketball coaches who aspire to become head coaches. I never really thought I’d wanted to be a head coach, but when I went through this program, that grooms you and tells you what you need to know, I thought, “That would be neat to do.” Afterwards, my athletic director called and told me about the changes and asked if I was ready for the challenge. You don’t think it’s going to happen that quickly, but God has plans for us and you just go with it. So I was interim coach for a year and then I got the job permanently.
AC: Fill in the blank for me. The toughest part of being a head coach is … what?
TJ: Oh, wow, can there be a couple of answers? One is definitely the time management piece. You are pulled in so many different directions. There are lots of things that I have to do and I still want to stay connected to my team, so there’s the challenge of staying in tune and being there for them, but also having obligations to the university and to the community where I’m not able to be around as much. Another thing that I’ve had to learn is that I can’t save everyone. It’s in my nature to want to help, but when people say they don’t want to do something, sometimes you have to believe them.
AC: Well, thanks for your time, Coach. I guess I have to call back to find out when you got the check.
TJ: (Laughs) I don’t think I’m going to tell anybody when that day is!
Anthony Cotton can be reached at 303-954-1292 or acotton@denverpost.com.
