Mike Jones has a ton of connections to Nike he is one of a handful of high school programs with a full Nike sponsorship.

Mike Jones has a ton of connections regionally in MD/DC/NoVA...he has to recruit kids to stay at the top. And he lands all the best ones.

Mike Jones has a ton of connections with top ranked kids nationally. He is the 16U HC for Team USA. Kids he coached are now 17 and 18 years old. So at WORST he will be an absolute asset for the next 2 years with recruiting top players that are normally out of VTs market. At BEST, he stays the 16U HC (or some involvement) and he continues to help VT with top recruits until he leaves VT.

I'm not sure what people think goes on in the recruiting process that makes it more difficult for someone without P5 experience to be unable to recruit. At the end of the day it is about having the most people in your corner on commit day...and the only way to make that happen is connections (or cash, I guess).

It is true that many non-P5 coaches dont have connections because they havent needed them to succeed at that level. But there are certain people who when moved to a P5 job will have instant connections to the right High Schools, AAU programs and families to make an instant impact. Mike Jones is one of those.

Think of it this way. VT is having trouble recruiting kids from Richmond/Team Loaded. Team Loaded steers their players elsewhere unless they feel VT is favorable to their other options (which is rare). If VT were to hire one of the Team Loaded guys, they could have a better track record landing those kids (it would still be difficult due to Adidas affiliation, but easier nevertheless)

Mike Jones is that type of hire except for EVERY major recruit in MD/DC/NoVA and most of the top recruits nationally.