Virginia Tech associate head coach Mike Jones is departing for a similar position at the University of Maryland, according to Pete Thamel of ESPN.
Jones joined the Hokies for the 2021-22 season after previously serving as the head coach at DeMatha for 19 seasons. He also served as a youth coach for USA Basketball. His hire immediately gave Mike Young and Virginia Tech an “in” with recruiting in the DMV, which quickly led to the signings of Rodney Rice and Darren Buchanan. AJ Swinton is committed to Tech in the 2024 recruiting class.
However, Buchanan entered the transfer portal last month after redshirting as a true freshman. Rice, who played for Jones at DeMatha, missed most of the season with an injury. Swinton is still in high school and not scheduled to sign until this November.
Jones originally replaced Chester Frazier on the staff at Virginia Tech. Frazier was a defensive specialist who departed for an assistant coaching job at Illinois, his alma mater. Head coach Mike Young could choose to replace Jones with another recruiter from the DMV, but current assistant Christian Webster is from D.C. and could recruit that area.
Young could also choose to go back with a defensive specialist like Frazier, and a guy like Jamal Brunt would make sense. Brunt played at Randolph-Macon and has spent nearly his entire career in Virginia coaching under the likes of Chris Mooney and Mike Rhoades. However, he recently followed Rhoades from VCU to Penn State as associate head coach, which makes that hire seem unlikely. Radford assistant coach Shane Nichols could also be mentioned as a possibility for the opening. He played and coached under Young at Wofford.
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Player departures are more about NIL and ego than CMY … IMHO
“SHOW ME THE MONEY”
Coach Mike Jones never looked happy on the sidelines or involved.
This is the state of Men’s College basketball. It’s totally fluid and totally out of control. Just look at the total number of players in the Transfer Portal. There three or four players on EVERY team who have gotten little playing time and will see little playing time in the future. What were their options ten years ago – compared to their options today?
Using Landers Nolley as an example of problems in a program. Really???
As for assistant coaches – guess what? And that’s EXACTLY it. Guessing..
Landers Nolley was about Lander Nolley, same as Joe Bamisile. Each wanted to be the Centerpiece of the program. I’d argue that both were the stars” of thier HS programs and expected the same at the next level. Each has layed for 3 -programs in 3 years.
Let’s not sugarcoat things. Not a good look right now.
Nolley
N’Guessan
Alleyne
Cone
Next year will be a tell tale year.
That’s just portal era hoops. It’s not bad or good IMO, just the way it is.
I don’t agree that the players you name + Joe Bamisile are, “program” issues. They are players who don’t buy into “team” basketball.
I agree 100%. Too many transfers for a great community and culture like Blacksburg.
I’m really starting to question CMY and his goals. I hope I am wrong!
Oh good grief. Blacksburg may be the center of your universe, but people in Iowa City and Gainesville and Waco and Tempe and so on think the same of their community – and players leave those places too.
It’s 2002 anymore…hell, it’s not even 2018 anymore. Transfers – in and out – are just part of the landscape – and it’s part of the landscape because most fans and media members didn’t think more than one checkers move ahead when stumping for more player power.
Exactly. Ashley Owusu abd Angel Reese both left UMD.
I actually thought he might have been up for the Georgetown job. He was not going to be here long and hopefully some of these players will stay. Really don’t get the whole I didn’t play as a true freshman so I am going someplace new where I will have to learn a new system and endear myself to new coaches. Doesn’t seem to work out that often.
Still think CMY is the right choice but needs to get guys to stay.
i thought we’d have CMJones one more season and
by then CJJones would leave odu and
CMJ could return to his alma mater as head coach.
His alma mater is ODU.
I’m not supresied he left when he didi but I figured he’d leave for an upper rung on the ladder, not a lateral move.
Hey we poached their RB coach. Now they did the same to us. All is fair in love and sports.
And their baseball coach!
Whit needs to open up the checkbook. What happened to the $400,000,000 fundraising drive? Pay the coaches more money to keep them around. We have to stop thinking we can compete with the other members of our conference and not pay them more! Hell we lost two football coaches recently, just before spring ball. Stop holding on to so much money so that it can sit in an account and draw interest. Interest doesn’t win ball games!
The two football coaches didn’t leave due to lack of money.
didn’t leave due to lack of money.>>>>
You’re confusing the FACTS with knee jerk opinions. 🙂
Look at the women who entered the portal as support for your FACTS.
Like the Josh Pastner idea his D always seemed to give us trouble and I think some good zone D to mix in would be of great benefit for VT at times.
KentuC-alipari wants him and he has ties to the ‘lipari.
doubt we can out bid them; but we may have other perks and opportunities that uk doesn’t.
Welp….gee, Mike, we hardly knew ya! Makes sense for him tho. Big city guy with deep roots in DC. And DeMatha only a mile from UMD campus. Just waiting now for Rice to announce he’s leaving.
Ouch….you hitting the Nuclear Button quick…..
That’s bad news but not unexpected and transfers may be looming. CMY has to have been planning his replacement for some time though and I hope his plan works out.
Well, gee, that really sux!
This is the new world we live in where things are all about the now. Building a team over time is a thing of the past. You recruit a team that is designed to win one year at a time. We either adapt or become irrelevant. #FastFoodTeams
You get what you get….. did you really think we found some gem hiding at Wofford for years and years that everyone else missed out on?
It’s not a matter of liking CMY (which I do!), it’s a matter of results, and except for 4 games last March we are an average team at best.
I fully support him and the team, but don’t expect any better results.
Well, I told you so, although this isn’t a great surprise, the short end of my expected 2-3 years, really two, maybe three years. As hinted at, there are three guys AJ clearly had a hand in, and I’m guessing they’re pretty much gone, Buchannon, Rice and Swinton. Oh well, was hoping Rice could be here long enough that he considers the place home, but one year of not playing much doesn’t help things, Why no one should be worried about burning red shirts late in the season like we did w/Rice. Use ’em while you got ’em.
When CMY was introducing Jones to the media, he said something to the effect that Jones wouldn’t be there long. Makes sense for Jones…going home, taking Tony Shinn’s position at Maryland, more prestigious program, salary bump, etc. (Remember, just a week ago Elijah Brooks came here from Maryland to better his career.) CMY is well respected in the coaching ranks. He’ll find a good replacement.
And just spitballin’ here, but Josh Pastner is only 45, is from WV, he’s a very good defensive coach, and after leaving both Memphis and GT, he may want to rehab as an assistant. He has always been complimentary of CMY.
Sounds good, but would be in the same place as Jones, cool his heels for 2-3 years before trying his hand somewhere else.
Right…I wouldn’t expect more these days. But getting three years out of a former head coach could be very beneficial to CMY. Possibly a bridge. Also, how long do we think that Webster and Giltner will be around? One or both is likely ready to be a head coach of a mid-major program. The days of assistant coaches staying forever are gone.
This is a smart idea. Josh was pretty likable here as a basketball mind and overall coach. He just failed or couldnt seem to recruit Urban talent despite being smack dab in the middle of an Urban hotbed. Of course neither has UGA been successful either beside the exceptional Ant man year of 2019. The high academic standards at GT are and will always be huge obstacles to recruiting the right program athletes to GT. I think Josh could recruit and find them but they couldnt pass the cut. Grabbing Pastner could give VT access to solid connections VT would have never otherwise have had. Pastner is owed a $2.5 Million by GT (as a 3year contract extension) for a previous ACC Title Run under Pastner in 2021. Firing Pastner (& the AD) 2 years later shows you alot about Loyalty, Lack of Patience (and dysfunction thinking here at GT)……I dont know if VT would have to pay that extension if we picked up Pastner for our payroll.
by solid connections….I mean urban connections with highschools and colleges in Atlanta, Carolinas, and Florida that VT might otherwise not have had. Look what Kennesaw State University did this past year. The student athletes are here….they just usually are not encouraged or incentivized to stay in-state until recently. But there still are many really good Georgia highschool basketball players who have NO desire to play for GT nor UGA. Josh could help us cast a net around those players.
Al Groh was fired by UVA w/2 years left on his contract. Paul Johsnon hired him as DC on the cheap as UVA was obliged to pay him the difference between what they owed him for each of those two years minus the ACC minimum for an AC. (Groh lasted 1/2 of his 3rd season @ GT when he was entirely on the GT payroll. He hasn’t been employed yet.) I don’t know how many years Pastner has left on his contract but I’d assume he’s in a similar sisutation was Groh was except he’s a better coach. He’s be a great addition and who knows, he might bring some of hisplapyers with him.
Guys leaving for HC jobs is a good thing, means we have won some games. I would like to see Frazier back myself. That, or someone that can coach def and recruit.
Well respected and widely known. I’m sure he and Whit keep a short list ready. This explains the Buchanan departure. Rice can be expected to follow. Whereas this is a lateral move, I doubt it’s about money. Rather, it’s about Jones’ DC roots. We can’t top that. What’s a little strange though is that Maryland Coach Kevin Willard is 47 and Jones is 49. Mike Young is 57. I don’t see a succession to Willard on the horizon. Does Jones? Tech offers a more logical succession. Also, if Jones wasn’t happy in Blacksburg and he has ambitions to run his own program, it’s not likely to be in College Park. Which program is going to hire a guy who’s likely to be homesick? As for Maryland being a more, “prestigious” program, what were they before Lefty arrived? And while Lefty put them on the map, Gary Williams won their only NC and that was 21 years ago. Otherwise, the history of Maryland basketball is marked by early exits and 10-unpunchd tickets to the NCAA since 2005. Maryland finished 22-13/11-9 this season and was knocked out of the NCAA tournament in the 2nd R. The Terps are not a natural fit for the b10. And is the b10 more prestigious than the ACC? Who on this blog is going to argue it is?
To your point, its very debatable if B10 is a Basketball upgrade…..Mr. Mike might not be as “smart” as we hoped or thought. He’s deliberately choosing to go from a balanced budget-conscious program in VT that generates approximately $4million in Basketball Revenue Profit each year to a program that traditionally operates in the red at approximately a $4million dollar deficit each year. MD was -$3,308,829 Million just last year after their expenses.
Debbie Yow left UMD $80 in debt when she left for NCSU. She totally mismanaged the budget in CP.
Bad news. If MY is to succeed the outflow of transfers and coaches must be diminished, IMO.
Totally agree. I don’t understand as he is reportedly well liked by players and coaches.
I agree 100%. Too many transfers for a great community and culture like Blacksburg.
I’m really starting to question CMY and his goals. I hope I am wrong!
Well, that did not take long – I guess we will see Rice at Maryland next season.
Rice may not necessarily transfer. I’ve heard he has a good relationship with all the coaches and from his tweets he seems to love Hokie Nation and the culture. Swinton and his family seem to love the culture and family atmosphere of Tech, so hopefully he stays committed.
Not surprising, with the departures of two players and a spot opening at Maryland. Hope he does well but this is a tough loss imo. We were never going to keep him at VT for long but I thought he would leave for a head coach gig. Rice could be a transfer now?
We need a strong replacement, someone with excellent recruiting chops. I am very worried CMY’s program is about to slip to average. Of course I hope I am wrong!!!
Slip to average? I’m afraid we’re already at average.
Agreed. We were bad this year in a well below average ACC.
Outside of 4 games last March that’s exactly what this team has been Average.
Coaches and players are all “ramblers”. Here today, gone tomorrow or next year. I’m at the point of not giving a hoot. College sports is in the sewer headed for a larger sewer line.
we need a recruiter on this staff, CMY and the others can do the x’s and o’s, VT needs some Jimmys and Joes.