By Harry Minium '77
Mike Jones ’95 was more than just a successful basketball coach at DeMatha Catholic High School in Hyattsville, Maryland. Many considered him to be the foremost high school coach in America.
He took over from legendary coach Morgan Wooten in 2002 and carved out an exemplary career of his own.
In 19 seasons, his teams went 511-119 and won the 2006 national championship. He spent 22 years coaching teams for USA Basketball, including the 2021 USA Men’s Under 16 national team, which won an international gold medal.
A deeply religious man, Jones said he felt like God intended him to continue mentoring young men in high school.
“I thought I would retire at DeMatha,” he said. “I thought that having an impact on the lives of young men was what God wanted me to do.”
But he also had a dream — he yearned to be the head coach at Old Dominion University, his beloved alma mater. And Virginia Tech head coach Mike Young knew that as he tried to lure Jones to Blacksburg as an assistant coach in 2021.
“I told him, if he truly wanted to be the head coach at ODU, he wasn’t going to do it coming from DeMatha,” Young said. “He had to do it as a college assistant coach.”
“It was very apparent that Mike loved his time at Old Dominion. He loves the school, loves what it represents. He believes in ODU,” Young added.
Mike Bray, then the head coach at Notre Dame and a longtime friend, urged Jones to say “yes” to Young. Jones was approaching 50, and as Bray said, “there aren’t many 50-year-olds who get hired as first-year college basketball coaches.”
After praying about it, and discussing it with his wife, Stayce, Jones resigned at DeMatha and moved to Blacksburg.
Three years later, on March 1, before a cheering throng in the Big Blue Room at Chartway Arena, Jones was named ODU’s 14th head coach.
“Welcome home,” said President Brian O. Hemphill, Ph.D., who along with Athletic Director Camden Wood Selig, Ed.D., selected Jones as the new coach.
ODU in the blood
Jones’ hiring comes at a critical time for ODU. The University is 67-83 over the last five seasons and hasn’t been to postseason play, nor won a conference tournament game, since 2019, when the Monarchs claimed the Conference USA title. Dave Twardzik, the former ODU All-American and a longtime color commentor for the Monarchs, says Jones is the one to right the ship.
“I love that ODU blood,” he said. “Mike knows the program. He knows the history. He loves ODU. He’s such a genuine person and he understands what Old Dominion basketball is all about.
“Old Dominion has a great basketball tradition and Mike is a part of that tradition.”
Jones played on two Colonial Athletic Association championship teams and starred in one of the biggest wins in Monarch history, scoring 19 points as a senior in 1995 when ODU upset No. 3 seed Villanova in the NCAA Tournament in triple overtime.
Jones also hired a big name in ODU history — Odell Hodge, the former CAA Player of the Year — as a special assistant to the head coach.
Jena Virga, executive director of the Old Dominion Athletic Foundation, ODU’s fundraising organization, said alumni are stoked about Jones and Hodge.
“The first time I heard Mike speak was at a gathering of donors in Richmond,” Virga said. “Some of them had fallen off over the years. They have not supported basketball in a while.
“But both he and Odell brought tears to the eyes of so many people there. They were so moved by his passion, by how he said he’s lived for this day, to be ODU’s coach. It’s what he dreamed of.”
Jones is the second ODU alumnus to be head coach of his alma mater, joining Oliver Purnell, who coached Jones for his first three seasons at ODU. He also is the third African American head coach in program history, along with Purnell and the late Jeff Capel.
“I want our teams to represent the passion of our fan base, the history of our basketball program and the prestige of our University,” Jones said. “I know what this program is capable of. Once we reach that bar, it’s never going to get lower. We’re going to raise the bar.
“We’re going to be humble. We’re going to be relentless. We’re going to keep coming at you. We’re all going to pull together in one direction. We will never make excuses. We will represent everything great that this University stands for.”
Overcoming adversity
Jones had what he calls “a normal life” until just after he asked Stayce to marry him. Then, both were tested by adversity.
As their wedding day approached, Stayce said she noticed being occasionally out of breath — an unusual occurrence as she is someone who works out regularly.
“A few weeks after the wedding, I started to have other strange symptoms: night sweats, more fatigue, insomnia,” she said. Days later, she ran out of breath carrying laundry into the basement. She went to the emergency room and doctors pronounced her fit. However, one doctor took an X-ray of her chest just to make sure. The CT scan and MRI that followed confirmed Stayce had a peach-sized mass pressing on her lung. The diagnosis: non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
When Stayce asked if she could have children after the treatment, she was told no.
“We walked outside the door and after 10 yards, my wife lost it,” Jones said. “We were there probably 30 minutes while I held her and tried to console her.”
An oncologist recommended Stayce take part in an experimental chemo treatment at the National Institutes of Health. “He could have treated us,” she said. “But he thought the trial drug might be a better fit for me. That may have saved my life.”
By the time she began chemo six weeks later, the mass had doubled in size. Her cancer is aggressive and often deadly, but after nine months of taking a tortuous concoction of drugs, the mass disappeared.
It’s been five years since the chemo ended and her prognosis is good; she was told she has an 88% chance of survival.
Stayce said there is no explanation for the turn of events that led to her treatment other than divine intervention — a paramedic insisting she go to the hospital, a doctor who went the extra mile, an oncologist who insisted she take part in a trial treatment.
“Mike has done so much to strengthen my spiritual life,” she added.
“I don’t try to beat anyone over the head with it,” Jones said. “And I know different people are raised in different traditions, and I respect that.
“But spend time around me and you will see that I won’t ingest anything without praying. It’s just who I am.”
Pushing up the court
It is difficult to predict how good the Monarchs will be with Jones at the helm. He has added 11 newcomers to the four returning players and in practice, the basketball team looks more talented and much bigger than last season.
One thing seems certain — their style of play will change, from one focused on defense to scoring.
“Coach Jones has made clear that we’re going to push the ball up the court,” said point guard Imo Essien.
Jones believes that ODU can be successful even in the new world order of college athletics in which the transfer portal, and name, image and likeness give the power conferences major advantages.
“The world has changed, and some people don’t look at academics as a crucial part of athletics,” he said. “But I want families to send their young men here to play for us with the goal of getting a college degree.
“We have a world class University here. I want our players to take advantage of that, graduate, and become good citizens and fathers.
“For me, that’s what coaching is all about.”