By Harry Minium
The announcement made Tuesday night by Old Dominion athletic director Wood Selig that basketball coach Jeff Jones has signed a 2-year contract extension should send a strong signal to recruits, players and fans that Jones plans to stick around for a while.
The extension will keep Jones under contract for 5 more years, through 2023-2024, and here's what that's important: Some coaches at other schools have been telling recruits that Jones is a short timer at ODU.
Beyond the fact that it's detestable to engage in negative recruiting against one of the best people in coaching, no one can accurately predict the future.
Yes, Jones had a recurrence of prostate cancer, but it responded to treatments this past fall and winter and at his last medical checkup, doctors were upbeat. If you’ve ever had a major illness, you know it’s difficult to predict what the future holds.
A personal case-in-point: I have a friend, Jim Monaco, who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer three years ago and was told he had four months to live. Get your affairs in order in the time you have left, he was told by doctors at one of the nation's most prestigious hospitals.
Jim is a huge ODU football fan. My wife, Ellen, and I have tailgated with him and his wife, Cathy, at ODU football games.
Pancreatic cancer is one of the most difficult cancers to detect and treat. Because it’s generally always detected after it has already spread to other parts of your body, many patients do live for only months. That was expected to be the case for Jim.
But three years after being given essentially a death sentence, Jim is happy and healthy. Most of his cancer has been eradicated, thanks to treatments at cancer centers in the Midwest.
ODU coach Jeff Jones waves to Monarch supporters after cutting down the nets at the Conference USA tournament.
Like I said, opposing coaches don’t know enough about Jones’ health to speculate on his future.
“First and foremost, this lets people know that I plan to stay here,” Jones said.
“We’ve told people for years how much Danee (his wife, Danielle) and I love it here. I am committed to helping ODU be as successful as we possibly can be.
"I hope this will help fight against the narrative that some rival coaches have been spreading that I’m looking to get out. I don't intend to go anywhere. I have no intention of retiring."
Added Selig: "We're committed to coach Jones and, equally important, he's committed to ODU."
Jones talked about next season before and during the Big Blue BBQ, where Selig made his announcement, with infectious enthusiasm. He announced the captains for next year will be Aaron Carver and Xavier Green. Carver, from Elizabeth City, and Green, from Williamsburg, are both from the greater Hampton Roads area.
ODU finished 26-9 this season, won its first Conference USA title and went to the NCAA tournament for the first time in eight seasons. And the Monarchs did so without sacrificing academics.
I watched for three hours as Amy Lynch, the academic adviser for the Monarchs, and ten basketball players were in a study hall while in Hartford for the NCAA tournament. Lynch was patient but diligent in working with the players, who were also serious about studying.
That’s because Jones often tells his players that academics are as important as wins and losses.
Jeff Jones with assistant coaches John Richardson, Bryant Stith and Kelvin Jefferson as they headed to the Conference USA championship game.
In 2016-2017, the last year for which NCAA APR rankings are available, the Monarchs had a composite score of 995. A perfect score is 1,000. ODU was honored last season for being in the top 10 percent of all Division I schools for the second year in a row.
“That’s a priority for us, not just for men’s basketball, but for the entire athletic department,” Jones said. “The allocation of resources to academic support is as good as you would expect to see anywhere.”
Jones has been media shy for his entire career, and doesn’t seek praise for doing good deeds. Did you know that he buys Christmas presents for staff members and others at ODU and expects nothing in return?
I didn’t and when I asked him about it, he replied: “You’re not going to write about that, are you?”
Sorry coach.
His reticence to speak about private matters began to change in 2015 when he announced he'd been treated for cancer, but really picked up steam this fall when he revealed that his prostate cancer had returned.
He began to speak publicly about men getting tested before they are 50. That’s because he only learned about his cancer because of a checkup he was required to have for a new life insurance policy.
ODU held a Prostate Cancer Awareness night in November when the Monarchs played Northern Iowa and offered a half-time message on ODU’s scoreboard encouraging men to get tested.
The video, which was produced by ODU associate athletic director Tina Price, was compelling and touching.
Click here to see Jeff Jones prostate cancer video
Jones has participated in cancer walks, helped the American Cancer Society lobby for federal funds in Washington, D.C. and has spoken to groups about getting tested.
Jones became the feel-good story for March Madness, at least until Virginia won the national championship, when the national media finally figured out that he was coaching while receiving treatment for prostate cancer.
Athletic director Wood Selig said Jones earned his contract extension, noting his 122-49 record the last 5 seasons, which ranks 20th among 353 Division I programs.
"Sometimes even when crappy things happen, you can try to use those things for good,” he told Tom Schad of USA Today.
Jones has been a clear winner at ODU and prior to coming here, at Virginia and American University. He is 140-67 in six years at ODU and 497-354 in 27 seasons.
Even so, some fans got their noses out of joint because Jones didn’t take the Monarchs to the NCAA tournament in his first five seasons.
Fans are fans, and even though the reality is few mid-major programs get at-large bids, you can’t blame them for being frustrated. But a few focused on Jones, and he’s not the problem.
Since conference realignment in 2012, in which Conference USA lost Memphis, SMU and others with good basketball programs, not one of the league’s 14 schools have received an at-large bid.
ODU won at No 25 Syracuse, rallied from a 17-point deficit to beat VCU and swept three games from Western Kentucky. Nonetheless, the Monarchs weren’t on the NCAA bubble. Because they played 18 C-USA games, their strength of schedule was rated as poor by most computer rankings.
The deck is purposely stacked against mid-major schools by Power 5 schools, who routinely decline to play mid majors on the road. That means mid major schools such as ODU must go on the road, where it’s always difficult to win.
ODU has booked dates in tournaments every season that gives them a chance to play elite schools. The Monarchs also went on the road to play Syracuse in return for a financial guarantee, and is still seeking a guarantee game for next season. A proposed contract with St. John's of the Big East fell through, but Selig is still looking.
UTEP, Charlotte and other programs with good facilities and much promise have under performed, and several other schools haven't really made a commitment to play big-time basketball.
Fans should also remember that Jones inherited a mess of a program after coach Blaine Taylor was fired during the middle of the of the 2012-2013 season. ODU finished 5-25.
In 2013-2014, Jones' first season, ODU finished 18-18 and went to the CBI tournament semifinals.
A year later, Jones took ODU to the National Invitation Tournament semifinals at Madison Square. The Monarchs were among the last four teams that were eliminated by the NCAA tournament committee for at-large bids.
ODU defeated Murray State, 72-69, in the third round of the NIT during a game that anyone who attended will never forget. Trey Freeman launched a shot from just across mid court and into the net as the final buzzer was sounding.
ODU won its first Conference USA title ever this past season.
The explosion of noise from the crowd was as loud as I’ve heard anywhere.
The Monarchs won the Vegas 16 championship the following season in which they suffered a heartbreaking, 55-53 loss to Middle Tennessee in the C-USA championship game.
The following season, in 2016,2017, ODU's record dipped to bit to 19-12 after losing to No. 10 Louisville and overtime and dropping a 6-point decision to LSU.
ODU finished 25-7 in 2017-2018 and was among the last four teams that didn’t make the NIT. ODU elected not to go to another tournament, saying from this point forward the school will only go to the NCAA or NIT.
ODU finally made it back to the Big Dance in the season that just ended, although they often kept fans on the edge of their seats. The won all three games in the C-USA tournament by narrow margins.
Caver bailed the Monarchs out in the quarterfinals, making a 3-point fallaway jumper with 4 seconds left to give ODU a 57-56 comeback victory over Louisiana Tech. ODU trailed by 7 with 1:48 to go, but as was the case the entire season, when the Monarchs fell behind, they never panicked.
Green made the game-winner in a 2-point semifinal victory against UAB when he made a driving one-handed shot as he was being fouled with 4 seconds left. UAB led by nine heading into the game’s final minutes.
ODU also trailed Western Kentucky late in the second half of the championship game before Green shot the Monarchs to a six-point lead by making three pointers on consecutive possessions.
“It was a great year,” Jones said. “Sometimes you can have a good team and ball doesn’t fall your way.
“Our guys were an example of continuing to fight, never say die. And the ball bounced our way. There was some luck involved, but your players have to be good to win those kinds of games.
“To finally cross that threshold and get to the NCAA tournament was a big deal for our program.”
Jones ended our conversation by saying something that should make every ODU fan smile.
“I think we’d all like to go dancing again.”
Contact Minium: hminium@odu.edu