After a tough heart attack and multiple treatments for prostate cancer, Coach Jeff Jones decided to bid farewell to the Old Dominion basketball program. The Monarchs will now have to rebuild their identity after this key departure. A step in the right direction would be getting a new head honcho. They did exactly that and turned to Maryland assistant Mike Jones.
Coach Mike Jones will get his first shot at being a college basketball head coach at the Old Dominion basketball program. He will now be taking over the role that Jeff Jones left behind, per Pete Thamel of ESPN. This was after the program had to bode well with interim coach Kieran Donohue.
Under Mike, the Maryland program has not found much success. They are currently struggling with a 15-win record with hopes of being part of the big dance looking more bleak as time passes by.
But, he has proven his ability to lead a winning squad at Virginia Tech, the squad he had with before the Terrapins. Coach Mike was part of the coaching staff that had won the ACC tournament back in 2022. This was the first time in the Hokies team history that they had achieved such a feat.
He clearly has a knack for great schemes, player development, and astounding rotational calls. Old Dominion will surely benefit from his expertise.
Coach Jeff calls it a career in Old Dominion
The circumstances surely were not ideal for a retirement. But, Coach Jeff has to prioritize his health first. He outlined why the call to stop his coaching career was very important to his journey of healing.
“I knew at some point it would happen. December 20 kind of changed stuff. It gave me an opportunity to think about how grateful I am and what really matters. I’ve been so fortunate. Forty-one years. That’s a long time. But the number of people I’ve been associated with over those years is just amazing. … I feel like I’m a really lucky person,” he said.
Now, he can leave Old Dominion to Coach Jeff without a worry. All Monarchs fans will ever want is for him to fully heal.
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