Maryland basketball will look to finish the end of the 2023-24 regular season on a high note with the Big Ten Tournament looming, but head coach Kevin Willard could be tasked with replacing another vacancy on his staff this offseason after Maryland assistant Mike Jones was named as a head coaching candidate at Old Dominion, his alma mater.
Days after being listed on the shortlist alongside UNC-Greensboro head coach Mike Jones for Old Dominion’s vacant head coaching job, Jones was named as the expected frontrunner to replace Jeff Jones as the program’s next head coach.
We are now told (from a very good source but NOT a source inside the department) that Maryland’s Mike Jones of DeMatha fame will be the next coach of Old Dominion University. https://t.co/kptiL9aao2
— Coaching Changes (@CoachingChanges) February 29, 2024
Old Dominion announced in mid-January that former head coach Jeff Jones was stepping away from coaching for the remainder of the season after suffering a heart attack during the team’s trip to the Diamond Head Classic in Honolulu back in December. On Monday morning, the program announced that Jones would permanently step away from the program due to his ongoing medical recovery.
Jones joined the program after two seasons as an assistant at Virginia Tech, his first job in college basketball. Prior to joining the Hokies, Jones spent 19 seasons as the head coach at DeMatha where he posted a 511-119 (.811) record and won nine WCAC regular season titles, eight WCAC Tournament championships, four Maryland Private School Tournament championships. Jones also led DeMatha to a 2006 national title, along with spending time as an assistant with USA Basketball. Jones was named the USA Basketball Developmental Coach of the Year back in 2019 and helped lead America to a gold medal at the FIBA Americas U16 Championship.
If Jones were to become a head coach as expected, he’d be the fourth Maryland assistant over the last year to leave Maryland in favor of a head coaching opportunity, joining Tony Skinn (George Mason), Grant Billmeier (NJIT) and Tevon Saddler (Nicholls) as head coach Kevin Willard would need to fill out his staff yet again heading into the 2024-25 season.
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