NEWS: Old Dominion is hiring Maryland assistant Mike Jones as its next head coach, sources told me and @PeteThamel. Jones is an ODU alum who led the Monarchs to two NCAA tournaments as a player in the 1990s. Was one of the best high school coaches in the country at DeMatha.— Jeff Borzello (@jeffborzello) February 29, 2024
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Who?
Dude is legit:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Jones_(basketball,_born_1965)
WHO?
via GIPHY
Paul Wall?
The people's champ!
On my Instagram feed I saw tht Kirk Cousins got a grill, and all I could think of was Paul Wall and Nelly.
FORMER VT ASSISTANT MIKE JONES
MIKE JONES
Hopefully the hoes will still not give a damn that he's there
Back then they didn't want him, now hes hot and ODU on em.
I think this means Elijah Brooks will be the next head coach at William & Mary.
Logic:
Mike Jones CV:
Elijah Brooks CV:
How will this impact us?
Well you see when ODU gets a P5 player they can transfer to VT because of the relationship between the coaching staffs.
Was there a good relationship? I couldn't remember why he left VT
A raise and the ability to live in a metropolitan area.
With his family, who never moved to blacksburg with him
Is Norfolk a metropolitan area?
Compared to Blacksburg? Yes.
Absolutely when you combine it with Virginia Beach.
Not sure I would consider the #37 ranked MSA as a metro area. Plus the population is trending down rapidly. I get it's bigger than Blacksburg, but VT brand more (top-25-30 rank) more than makes up for the MSA variance. This is one of those took a big swing and hit a single.
Meh, continuing this analogy, isn't on base percentage the biggest indicator of winning baseball games (idk I'm not a baseball fan and haven't read Moneyball in about a decade, so maybe I'm misremembering)?
It's really hard getting a head coaching gig. It's probably not his dream job but - if he wants to be a college head coach - definitely a big step in the right direction.
Mike Jones gets some Head Coaching experience so we can evaluate him after CMY retires
I'm guessing he'll steal some recruits. Especially with the overall direction of CMYs program being at the state that it is.
He's overrated. Maryland sucks this year. Jones didn't do anything meaningful there.
He's incredibly connected on the AAU circuit. Having him in state will not be a net positive for VT.
Not saying he's going to turn ODU into a title contender, but I can see him being an annoying recruiting presence.
Fair point. VT needs to swim in that pool then. You notice where Hank Coleman's kid went when he left Duke? To Buzz of course- who was playing in the VA AAU scum pond. Young and crew need to swim in the algae too then.
100% - not sure CMY and his staff have the chops to do that / maybe aren't willing to?
He has been incredibly connected to recruiting, can he coach at the College level at all still needs to be determined.
Unfortunately college sports is full of bad gameday coaches who recruit very well, and they'll end up stealing recruits from programs with good coaches who could have made better use of those players.
Cough Cough Bill Self and Bruce Pearl. Bob Huggins himself told me that neither could actually coach a good HS team.
Wonder where Rodney Rice will play next year.
Willard will pay him to play at Maryland- which is legal now apparently.