NORFOLK, Va. – Old Dominion men's basketball coach Jeff Jones will be wearing a blue puzzle piece pin during Saturday's game at LA Tech as part of the Coaches Powering Forward Autism Speaks Campaign. The initiative was created in 2014 when NCAA Coaches Pat Skerry and Tom Herrion embarked on a mission to raise awareness of autism. Inspired by their sons, both diagnosed with autism, they made a simple request to fellow coaches: Wear the Autism Speaks blue puzzle piece pin during the televised February weekend games. In an overwhelming response, more than 82 NCAA coaches and broadcasters took to the sidelines and airwaves throughout the weekend wearing the puzzle pin. Saturday's game will be broadcast by ESPN+.
By 2018, the support soared to 375 NCAA coaches wearing the pins and more than 420 schools showing their support of people with autism. Click here to see a list of participating schools for 2019. Today autism affects 1 in 59 children in the U.S. and more than 70 million people worldwide. The 2020 goal is to continue to grow this initiative to include all Division I programs, along with other divisions and provide basketball coaches, their teams and schools with an even greater opportunity to increase global understanding and acceptance of people with autism.
The timing is ideal as the Coaches Powering Forward program is in the midst of an online auction on DASH, raising funds for autism research. ODU has provided two items, an autographed basketball and autographed jersey.
To bid on the basketball signed by ODU head coach Jeff Jones and the Monarch players, PLEASE CLICK HERE.
To bid on the ODU basketball jersey autographed by Coach Jones, PLEASE CLICK HERE.
Both auctions will end during the afternoon of Tuesday, Feb. 4.