The Monarchists sit down with ODU basketball coach Jeff Jones and discuss last season's ups and downs, the incoming recruiting class, scheduling, the move to the Sun belt and the usual Monarchists stuff.

If you have a moment, please take the time to support the great charities doing work Coach Jones supports.

Samaritan's Feet - https://samaritansfeet.org/

Coaches Versus Cancer - https://www.cancer.org/about-us/our-partners/coaches-vs-cancer.html

Zero Cancer - https://zerocancer.org/

Troops First Foundation - http://www.troopsfirstfoundation.org/

For more information on how to donate to Old Dominion Athletics please visit https://www.olddominionaf.com/

For basketball specific giving please visit https://www.olddominionaf.com/giving/sport-specific-giving/mens-basketball/

Hi, I'm Mallory Kane and you're listening to

the ODU monarchist podcast.

I'm Erin

And I'm Mike.

and you're listening to the monarchist podcast today.

We welcome Jeff Jones, head coach of old dominion basketball to the show.

A four year starter at point guard at the university of Virginia coach

Jones was drafted by the Indiana Pacers prior to starting his coaching career.

After coaching at UVA, Rhode Island and American university, Jeff joined

old dominion in 2013 and enters his 10th season as a Monarch over

500 wins and total 180 plus at ODU and a 61% winning percentage.

Welcome to the show coach.

Thanks guys.

Appreciate it.

So welcome coach.

We were listening to the recent podcast you did with Julian brown

on the Virginia legends podcast.

You covered your days in Charlottesville.

Episode.

So today we're going to focus on your time and all dominion.

We have a lot of new faces in the program for next season.

What can you tell us about this group of players and what should

fans expect from these guys?

Well, number one you know, we're, we're real excited

about them as, as a group.

You know, there, there, there was a.

Where I have to admit it was, it was a bit unsettling to, to look at the fact that

we only had what five or six, you know, re returning guys you know, I, I think

quite honestly that that, that played a big role in, in Jaylen hunter leaving you

know, we, we talked and obviously he, he had a pretty good situation going here.

You know, after last year not fun by you know, in any any measure.

You know, he, he, he was kind of you know, afraid that we

wouldn't, we wouldn't be very good.

And you know, I told him, I said, look, I understand.

But the last time we were in this situation was the

summer before the 2019 season.

When you know, we obviously ended up winning the regular season and

the conference USA tournament.

And I said, I, I.

I, I can't tell you who they're going to be, but I've got lots of

confidence that whoever we signed in the spring is going to be pretty good.

You know, I, there, there were a lot of people out there

in, in the transfer portal.

And one thing that you, you know, for sure is if guys were in the transfer,

One of the big things, if not the biggest factor in their decision is going to

be playing time, you know, the, the opportunity to get out on the court.

So as, as a group, you know, I'm, I'm very excited.

You know, we had signed a Bryce, Al Fino and, and the in the fall in, in

the spring, we were only looking at, we weren't considering any high school kids.

We were looking only to bring in either junior college.

Transfers or, or guys that were in the transfer portal.

The, the first one that you know, that we got was Chauncey Jenkins.

And you know, we, we were excited about that.

He, he he's got so much potential and so much talent.

He was playing behind, you know, some really good guards, Ricky

counsel for one that ended up leaving and, and going to Arkansas.

But you know, Chauncey wanted him to get back closer to her.

And to, to get somebody, you know, he's, he's just a really good

kid to get somebody with that much talent and ability, that

was a good start for, for us.

After that you know, we were talking to a number of different

guys and we, we, we just, quite honestly, it was almost by accident

that we about Tyree Scott Grayson.

Obviously we, we, we were familiar with him having played

against him at, at, at UAB.

And you know, he had some, as he's called to say, he's, he's had some

pretty good games against ODU scoring.

And, and he fit the bill as somebody that at the, at the

mid-major level, you know, had.

Shown himself to be capable of being a double figure score.

So you know, we, we, we finished that and, you know, one thing we found

out, I, I had no idea and, and we kind of fell into it that he had played.

On the boot and the boot Williams AAU program, he was on the, you

know, one of the other teams, he wasn't on the the, the big team.

And, and, you know, knew this area and actually was familiar with

some of our players and especially PJ Gill, who's a walk-on for us.

So we, you know, we were able to get Tyreek The entire time we were working

real hard on the, the two junior college bigs, Derico and phase on.

And, and they were guys that we had been working on since

last fall, really, really hard.

We kind of targeted them and felt like you know, they were the right mixture for us.

Derico is just a really, really hard place to, I mean, he, he's got a great motor.

He's an avid.

Comparable to maybe even more athletic and in different ways than Austin tries.

You know, he's an explosive jumper, but he can run and, and, and he just, he's

just so active, you know, Austin was that.

12 feet knit Derico is active all over the court.

I mean, he's, he's flying around.

So, you know, we thought that kind of effort and energy and enthusiasm

you know, would, would, would be a real good addition and then phase on

you know, playing on a really good.

He they, they went to Hutchinson and ended up losing in the semi-finals out there and

the national junior college tournament.

We, we seen him a lot on film.

We'd seen them in practice.

We saw him in games and, and, and one of the things that, you

know, from his freshman year to sophomore year, there was huge.

And, and, you know, he's still got three years.

He got some great coaching down at Chipola from Donnie Tyndall.

Now, if people don't follow college basketball really, really closely, they'll

have no idea who Donnie Tyndall is.

Donnie Tyndall.

When I came to ODU and we first went into the conference, USA,

Donnie Tyndall was, was a Southern.

And they ended up getting into a bunch of NCAA trouble.

Donnie went from Southern miss to Tennessee.

And was it more Morehead state with a Kenneth for Reed, but the guy knows how

to coach he's coached in the G league.

He, he just got into a lot of trouble with the NCAA, but watch.

How Donny coached phase on and co I mean to say he, coaches

hard is a big understatement and, and phased out and didn't blink.

So, so I think, you know, again with, with, with the motor the energy,

the toughness of that phase on brings he's a really long six, nine.

And, and I think it.

He's not a project, but without a doubt, his best basketball is ahead of him.

So, you know, we were, you know, working really, really hard and ultimately

were able to sign both of those guys.

And then you know, one thing that I thought was was really,

really an important sign for us was, was getting Benstead.

You know, Ben again is a tough kid.

He's a hard playing kid.

He proved obviously at Hampton that, you know, with the collegiate level,

he, he, he scores, he puts the ball in the basket and, you know, Ben and

I joked in the recruiting process, you know, he ever he's 22 again.

He led the, the, the NCAA, I believe in free throws, attempted

had he shot a better percentage.

He shot like 67% had been shot, a better percentage from the free throw line.

He could easily have been deleting score in, in college.

We, we need that.

I know that's not a surprise to anybody.

I mean, that's, you know, finding a consistent score, somebody that, that,

that hopefully can be a go-to guy for us.

You know, that was, that was really big.

And then the last guy that we signed, you know, we, we had talked to and

looked at and you know, just, just not, not being able to get the.

At the point guard spot.

And, and it happened really, really fast recently but Trey brown you

know committed with us and, and signed the scholarship papers.

And you know, he's, he's a guy that is gonna, you know, he's

gonna have to prove himself.

Nobody's gonna look at his stats.

You know, if they, if they haven't watched him play and, and done a deep dive,

nobody's gonna look at his stats and be.

But you know, Trey has, has shown us that, that, you know, he, he can,

he can definitely shoot the ball.

He's, he's very good in ball screen situations.

And as I said in the release you know, he's got some wiggle in his game.

And what I meant by that is, you know, he, he has the ability

with the ball to, to beat his.

And, and try to create, and, and that's just something that we lacked last year.

You know, we, we were really forced last year to run a lot of offense set offense.

And we obviously, we pounded the ball inside because with Allston and

Calu, that was our, you know, that was our, where our bread was better.

But you'd rather.

Not have to run as much offense.

And so having, you know, having tray, having Chauncey, having Tyrique you know,

having been to go with the returning guys, I'd really like to think that,

you know, we, we have a lot more ability to create opportunities, create shots,

to create opportunities for, for other.

You know, off the bounce and in other ways then than we had last year losing

Molly Curry, really, really, you know, that that was a huge factor in

our struggling last year, you know, Malik could go get a bucket or he

could, you know, force a double team or force help really at any time.

And so he made those other guys.

So that's a very long answer to your question.

But you know, we, we feel like you know, we, we, we improved our talent.

We improved our ladder athleticism.

We improved our ability to create offensively.

And at the same time, I, I think we, we addressed some, some coachability issues.

And I think that the group that we have.

You know, great leadership with, with Ben Stanley you know, kind

of a, a quiet, a quiet guy and Tyrique Scott Grayson you know,

Chauncey's just really, really hungry.

Trey brown is a milk comes from a military family.

So I think those guys, you know, they're going to be hard workers.

They're going to be tough.

And they're going to allow themselves to be coached.

And that's a, that's a, a big factor, you know, to, to try to turn

things around from, from last year.

No appreciate that coach.

I think that's going to give mark nation better insight

on what to expect this year.

You know, it's, let's just call it a huge recruiting class.

Whether, you take your one high school player.

Guys coming from a Juco or just other schools.

How do you take your your existing crew that you have?

And then a number of different, you know, other student athletes

that are coming from all over the place that are coming from different

team dynamics and bring them all together to have one cohesive unit.

You know, I mean, that's, that's, that's the question that, that,

you know, college basketball coaches around the country, you know, that,

that that's the million dollar question, you know, how, how do you do it?

And I think a big part of it is, is having, and, and I apologize in advance

cause I always say kids they're they're young men, but you know, having a group.

Young men with, with, with good character that, that place winning in, in, in team

success kind of above everything else.

And, and, you know, guys like Dangelo stone, For example,

you know, he's, he's a kid.

I mean, he could have looked at Chauncey or some of these other guys

kind of sideways, you know, cause he didn't play a whole lot last year.

I know he wants to play, but you know, he, and, and, and MCI long,

you know, they, they worked really, really hard in the recruiting process.

You know, the recruiting process.

Isn't just the coaches, you know, cause the, the, the recruits,

they want it, they want to talk to the players that are there.

They want to know.

You know, the coaching staff and the support and the the living conditions

and the food, and, you know, they, they, they've got questions about a lot of.

And I think our returning players did a really you know, good job

because they, they just want to win.

And they, they knew we needed to bring in you know, talented players and, you

know, our, our staff worked really hard on, on, you know, locating, not just

guys that can play, but guys that you know, that were hungry, you know, Ben

Stanley has been injured you know, Tariq kind of, you know, he, he left UAB.

Forced out, but that wasn't the best situation there.

You know, when Andy Kennedy came in you know Chauncey, you know, guys, w

w we brought in guys who just want to prove themselves that, you know, have a

chip on their shoulder, they're hungry.

And it's, it's interesting to, to watch and to hear you know, the, the, the lifts

that the guys have already had in the, you know, some of the workouts that they

have on their own or the the pickup game.

You know, just the feedback that we've gotten is that the, with some subtractions

the, the pickup games are so much.

And in terms of the intensity and the competitiveness and

the overall level of play.

So I, you know, I'm encouraged, it's really, really early.

So w we, you know, I can tell you it's, the chemistry is going to be great.

That doesn't mean, I thought last year's chemistry was going to be.

And, and then it was when things were going good, but it wasn't great.

And other times, and you know, that was an issue for us.

You know, what was it?

10, 10, and four at home and whatever our record was on the road, you know,

we didn't handle adversity real well.

The one thing we did do is we bounced back after the fact, you know, if, if

we, you know, if, if, if we struggled, but you know, we, we, we didn't put

together any long stretches, you know, When, when, you know, when trying to,

to face obstacles and face adversity.

And, and I think, you know, that we, we can kind of point to the, the you

know, the, the, the, the leadership and the just the maturity of the team.

And hopefully that'll be better this year.

I think it will be.

But you know, the proof will be in the pudding.

You mentioned a last year's Jekyll and I'd kind of record that home in a way.

And then you mentioned leadership and adversity.

Would those be the main points to explain that season, that difference

of quality on the road and.

Yeah.

You know, whether it's maturity, I, I don't know what, you know,

how, how to label it, but we, we just weren't consistent knew.

We, we, we couldn't when, when things happen to us individually, when things

happen to us as, as a group, you know, we, we didn't respond the way good teams do.

And then I would say, you know, just the again, Roman anybody under the bus, but,

you know, having the, the one guy that.

You know, when, when things on the court, you know, weren't, weren't

going well, you know, the, the one guy that could, you know, make a play

you know, Austin obviously had a great year, but you know, big guys that they

rely on, on, you know, the guards and the offense to, to get them the ball.

You know, when you've got point guards that we've had Trey framing, Ahmad caver,

Mully, Curry, you know, those guys.

Could turn a bad situation into a good situation.

And, and you know, we, we, we didn't have that.

We had, I mean, Jalen hunter, I love him to death.

I mean, he was a great defender you know, a wonderful young man you

know, tried to do everything and, you know, could get us into offense, but

that just wasn't his strength, you know, the, the, the creative part.

So, you know, I think those two things combined really were the biggest factors,

you know when, when we when we, you know, we would play people and again,

we we'd face tough situations and it seemed like, you know, we, the, the

bottom was just dropped out at times.

You know, we couldn't fight through during the course of, of, of a con.

So coach we know that relationship building is a big part of recruiting.

I know a lot of these guys, you start scouting when they're freshmen

in high school and you remit your main keeping contact with them over

the years to come bring them in.

But can you walk us through the recruiting process, the talent

valuation pitching the program

Yeah, the, the whole offer thing is really weird.

These days has been for several years you know, because players high

school prospects they, they love to get offers and, and it's almost like

an offer is, is worthless anymore.

I mean, you know, I'm, I'm old enough and old school that,

you know, to me, an offer.

Has always meant something.

And you know, a lot of these kids, they just want offers just like you, you

can't recruit them if you don't offer, you know, early in, in the process.

And, you know, I sometimes when, when coaches or whatever would would

say, Hey, are you going to offer him?

I I'd respond with a question of my own and say, is he going to accept you know,

I mean, an offer, if you make an offer.

And then, you know, something happens and, you know, you, you have no

intention of, of actually bringing the kid in, you know, you, you make an

offer and then a year later you know, maybe they don't develop the same way

that, that you thought that they might.

So you know, you, you try to Identify kids at a young age you know, the, the, the

talents and you know, the characteristics that you want in your program.

But the offers come so early now, there's, there's no real

way to predict you know, you.

You try to build the relationship whether it's for, for me, whether it's

over text or over the phone you know, the assistant coaches particularly

Chris Kavinsky is a lot younger and a lot more social media savvy.

And so he's, he's staying in touch and doing things in a different way than,

than, than I do is, is the head coach.

But the big thing is, you know, trying to identify.

Establish some sort of rapport and continue that, you know, over an extended

period of time, that's the ideal.

You want to see them play you know, and, and see how they're developing.

I always love not just seeing them at the end of the AAU.

But I like seeing them with their high schools because you, you want to see,

how do they interact with that coach?

How do they interact with their teammates?

How do they treat referees?

You know, what's, what's their demeanor on the court or, you know, are they

out there being a pre-Madonna or are they, you know, out there competing and

giving it everything that they've got?

So I, you know, I always liked seeing them, watching them in,

in, in games is tough because.

So much of high school officiating, not just in this area, it's a

nationwide thing is just not that good.

They, they don't know.

They do not know how to referee big guys.

And so, you know, you, you go to a game and, and inevitably the guy that you're

there to see, you know, picks up to 2000 the first quarter and ends up sending

down, you know, that kind of thing.

So that's why seeing practices can help as well.

It's always dangerous doing any recruiting from highlight films or

from video solely because everybody can look good in a highlight.

And if you're watching on a video, you can't really, if you're not familiar

with, with both teams, you can't really get a feel for that flooded

CISM and what the level of competition.

So there's no, you know, there's no replacement for seeing kids in, in person.

These days the, the recruiting has definitely taken a change.

The high school kids, not the, you know, top a hundred or 150, but a lot of the

high school kids are kind of falling by the wayside and falling through the cracks

because everybody including ourselves you know, they, they want to get.

You know, more mature and, and, you know, that's exactly

what we did this, this spring.

We went junior college and transfer portal only.

And, and with that, you still try.

You know, do your due diligence and get the background stuff as much as

you can, but there's, there's no way that you can build that relationship

in, you know, two months or a month.

You know, w whatever it is, it I've heard people describe it as speed dating.

And I've never done speed dating before, but, you know, I think

that's probably a pretty good.

A pretty good comparison.

But you're still trying to accomplish the same thing, you know, get to

know who these kids are and, and, and, you know how are they going

to fit in with your coaching style?

How are they going to fit into our school?

You know all of those kinds of things.

So there's, you know, there's a lot of, a lot of work and a lot of evaluation.

Beyond just trying to tell, Hey, you know, or are they talented enough?

You know, or can they pass dribble?

You know, those things are obviously very, very important, but, you know, and,

and, and I would say, and, and I'm not gonna, I'm not going to name any names,

but Hey, we've, we've made mistakes.

Gosh.

You know, I think we, we, this year, we, we try to you know, not just replace the

guys that, you know, started guys like Austin and Jalen and, and Calu, but.

You know, there, there were other spots that we needed to bring people in.

And you know, th th that had the ability to, you know, to get into games and,

and, and, you know, actually contribute you know, so that was an important part.

It wasn't just trying to, you know, get, get five starters for, for

next year or however many we could, it was, you know, increasing the

overall talent level on our roster.

So coach, we're going to try something, a little different

something we haven't done yet.

During the podcast, our listeners have have clamored for more fan interaction.

So we actually have a question from one of our listeners that is called in

on our Monarch is hotline or whatever.

We don't know what it's called yet, but Mike, can you play that, that question?

My name is James Rams, and I really love your podcast.

I think you guys are fantastic.

My question for coach Joe is what do you think of the transfer portal?

Do you think it's a good thing.

And how do you think it would have played back in the day when you.

All right.

I appreciate it.

My name is James Williams.

Thank you so much and go mano.

Well first, you know thanks to James.

Good question.

Obviously the transfer portal is a huge as far as college basketball

world is, is you know, put together these days you know, couple of

things about the transfer portal.

Number one, it's not going to.

Whether I like it or not, or whether anybody likes it

or not, it's not going away.

You're not getting the horses back in the barn.

I think the transfer portal for, for mid-majors give a gift and

it take, take, take it away.

The difference is from the mid-majors right, th the, those

kids that are transferring.

They're taking our best players, right.

That hurts us.

We do benefit from the power five kids transferring, you know, from

power five to the mid mid-major.

And we do benefit.

But that doesn't hurt the power fives.

You know, there, there there's, you know, there's no skin in the game

when they're losing these, these kids, they're losing them because

they're, they're not playing, right.

They're not, they're not good enough for them.

There's not, they don't fit the system or whatever, you know, they're

not losing, you know, most of them, they're not losing their best players.

The coaches at the mid-major and the low major.

Are losing their best players.

So don't, you know, nobody can tell me that it's, you know, then

it's equal or that it's fair.

You know, J J bill is, can love it all he wants, but you know, it's,

it's not equitable, equitable.

Right.

I don't like the idea and I think this is why a lot of people and, and

this isn't the main reason why, why we don't recruit as many high school kids.

But I think a lot of people look at.

I don't want to take a high school kid.

That's not ready to play as a freshman.

We finally getting him ready to play and he's, you know, he's, he, he's improved

by the end of his sophomore year and ready to take off and now he's gone.

Right.

And I think rather than have to deal with that scenario, a lot of folks are

saying, Hey, I'd rather take a kid.

That's two or three years older has been coached in college.

Right.

And then bring, bring, bring them in, in, into my program.

The NCAA is going to try to put some restrictions, I think some guard

rails on, on the transfer portal.

But again, it's not going away.

I think there'll be some time like, like this year you, you had May 1st, you had to

put your name into the portal by May 1st.

And in order to have the one-time transfer, I think there's going to be

some sort of timeframe that not only are they going to have to put their

name in, they're going to have to make a decision by a certain point, right?

There's gotta be some sort of a mechanism where, where coaches

can can know what their roster is probably going to look like.

We do it for the NBA.

You know, I mean, guys can go and they can put their name in and they

can stay at a certain time, but there, there is a deadline, right.

That they're allowed to stay there until, you know, X date.

I think something like that probably will be proposed and

talked about what it looks like.

Ultimately, I, I, I don't, I don't know.

Th the, the other thing, and this was unfortunately a a scenario that

this played out a lot that I don't think the general public knows about.

And, and, and, you know, the general public thing, you know,

th their, I believe their general impression is coaches lie and,

and the players are victims.

Sorry, that's not the reality.

They would be shocked at how many times.

The kids say for instance, they, they, they say that, you know, that they're,

they're coming back, but they're saying they're coming back because they want the

school to pay for a summer school so they can graduate and then they can go and,

you know, then they can go somewhere else.

The NCAA is aware of some of these things and is trying to figure out

a way to address them with that.

Having to go through litigation.

You know, I, I think the NCAA is really scared.

They're, they're afraid of litigation, you know, they've, they've been handed

some pretty big losses slightly in the courtrooms and they don't have any, any

taste for further litigation, but, you know, situations, like I just mentioned,

you know, are out there and I don't know if you'd call them a loophole or

whatever, but there are things that, that are happening that it shouldn't have.

But the, you know, the, the transfer portal it's hurt us in the

transfer portal has, has helped us.

The bottom line is it's here to stay.

And if you don't adjust, if you don't you know, learn to use the transfer

portal, you're going to get left behind.

Thank you for that breakdown of the portal.

Find it really interesting.

It's served news still, but I know it's a challenging thing for roster builder.

It is, one of the things that is, is I guess a byproduct

and, and, you know, people re re there's, there's going to be.

150 or so kids in the portal transfer scholarship kids that are going

to be stuck without a scholarship.

You know, they'll, they'll, they'll not have a D one scholarship.

They'll go deep.

Maybe D D three.

I talked to, you know Richard Morgan, who is a great UVA player.

He's a a basketball coach at an NAI school.

And, and, you know, they hope that they can get some of those guys that

fall through the cracks, but it's almost like it's you know, musical

chairs and when the music stops, unfortunately, some of these And women

aren't, aren't going to have scholarship opportunities and that's, that's a shame.

That's we see with football too.

But in your 10 years here, we've seen a lot of memorable moments.

We have 180 plus wins the shot from Trey for England in it, final four,

beating Syracuse and the carrier dome conference tournament champs in 2019.

Looking back at almost a decade at ODU.

Do you have one moment that jumps out to you?

I, I I'd have to say no number one was, was winning

conference USA tournament.

And you know, we'd been so close a number of times and, and not made it.

So I think that that, that has to be number one you know, a

close second and I'll put this.

And playing in the nit semifinals on the same thing.

Cause the shot put us there.

That was, that was pretty, pretty cool.

And I, I do appreciate it.

It's not, it's not, you know, the, the top spot, but you actually

remembering that we beat Syracuse.

I think there's a lot of folks you know, I mean, we're still listening to.

Stuff about the football team, beat beaten a Virginia tech team that ended

up not even having a winning record, but yet that, that Syracuse win goes, you

know, nobody really remembers that one.

So that, that was a pretty good win.

And that was a good day to play them in the carrier home plate,

played in the carrier dome at noon.

We got the, when we flew back on the charter flight we got a check

for a, I think it was like $90,000.

And, and I took my wife down to the the, the boardwalk and looked at

the Christmas lights that night.

So that was, that was a good day going up there and coming back.

Haven't hadn't beaten them.

That was, I wish we had more dates like

Oh, we will.

We will.

So coach, you looked through the game to a different lens than most of us.

I mean, unless like I didn't play competitive basketball.

I played out in the front yard with my buddies and we thought we

were good, but we weren't good.

But so I watched as a fan from the stands that I have for a long time.

What can you share with us that maybe we should focus on during the game

that we wouldn't that as a coach?

You know, I, I think a big part of it is.

How, how is our activity level particularly at the defensive end you

know, if there, there there's times in, in, in our team last year, you know,

and, and, and a lot of those home games that, that we talked about where we

played much better, gosh, we were flying around the ball and, and, you know,

our, our defense was, was fantastic.

We were able to get out and transition.

But, but then, you know, there were other times.

And usually it seemed to be on the road where we, you know, we, we

w we were reacting rather than, than, than than, than being the

aggressor, being the initiator.

And I think that's, that's maybe the big thing, you know you know, from

an offensive standpoint, you know, I think, you know, whether we're running

set offense or we're just, you know, just playing basketball the, the

thing I'm looking at are we, you know, how's our spacing, how's our movement.

It's not always about making the shots.

Although if we could make some shoot a higher percentage for, for, for the

season, for once that would make life.

So coach analytics have become a big part of sports in general, and

specifically college basketball, breaking down tempo, shot selection so much more.

How does this information help you on a do.

You know I've, I've tried really, really hard to, to,

to learn more about the analytics.

A lot of us old time.

You know, it's, it's, it's kind of a, it's, it's a new thing.

And, you know, if, if, if you're not trying to learn I

think you can get left behind.

And we, we subscribed last year to a group by the name of H HDI.

And, and.

You know, every game would give us a a breakdown in terms of the, the

analytics not just your basic stats, but you know, they, they put together,

you know, different lineups you know, your offensive efficiency, your

defensive efficiency, the shots the shots was a real big thing for me.

I know it's not going to surprise anybody when I got.

We weren't a very good three point shooting team last year.

So, so that made it difficult.

We were very, very good in the paint.

Right.

And, and when we finished inside, you know even though we shot more, three more twos

than what the, the, the analytics, the people with HDI wanted us to, if you shoot

a really good percentage in there, you know, then, then, then that can turn out

well, They wanted us to shoot more threes.

You know, my kind of response to them was, well, we're so bad at shooting,

shooting threes, you know and they said, you know, and they, they acknowledged it.

But you know, for, for them, the mid range too, is, is the worst, you know,

the worst shot that you can take.

So we, you know, we, we addressed that.

Some, we tried to address that.

You know, in practice and, and different things.

And there were some guys that we didn't ever want shooting mid range

twos but that was CJ Kaiser, you know, when, when we could get him going

and getting downhill that 15 foot pull up jumper going to his right.

You know, that was a great shot for him.

And he shot a high percentage and, and from an analytic

standpoint, that was a good shot.

There were other guys AJL of her, you know, we, we didn't want him shooting,

you know, those, those mid rages at all.

So that was something, but drew likey, who was our our, our video

coordinator young guy, you know, was, was on the team a couple of years ago.

Last year two years ago, the COVID year, he was kind of like an intern

and did a little bit of everything.

He has really helped me he would translate it into language that

I can understand, you know, a lot of the, the, the analytics.

And, and I think, you know, I'm just excited to continue learning and

continuing to, to hopefully use that, that information that HDI gives us you know,

to, to try to help our, our performance.

That's great to hear.

I know you had seen drew down on the bench but it's pretty neat to know

that you've got someone who's kind of.

And trying to use new and exciting tools to help the coaches you know, get

more out of more out of your players.

Speaking of players, I mean, you guys have had your fair share

of really good point guards come through in the last handful of years.

I mean, Trey Freeman, Ahmad, caver, Malique.

Would you attribute the success to the position?

Is your experience as a college point guard or is it

something completely different?

Well, I, I I'd like to think that I know a little bit of something

about point guard play and that, that factors in you know, I mean, even if we

go back to the, the UVA days, having John.

Having Cory Alexander, having Harold Dean you know, we, all of those guys played

professionally at American university, Derek Mercer and Andress Rodriguez.

You know, we're, we're, we're, we're two guys that were, were great point guards.

So I I'd like to think that, that I can bring something to the table in terms

of you know, how to play the position.

But, but there's a lot more that goes in.

Recruiting, you know, evaluating and being able to recognize, you know the,

you know, the, the talent, but also the intangibles that, that, that may be high

school guys have, or in Malick's case, you know, a junior college player has,

and then putting them in a situation in positions where they can be successful.

You know, if we just take Trey Freeman, Ahmad, caver, and moly, correct.

Each of those guys are very, very different in terms of their strengths

and weaknesses, but trying to play to their strengths avoid their

weaknesses and work on their weaknesses you know, in instructing them.

And, and the thing I, I talked to the, the point guards about a lot

in, including in the you know, in the recruiting process is.

For, for me, and for them practices are even more important than any other

position, because once they get into the game, you know, they can't look over

their shoulder at me and say, you know, coach, what, what, what, what do you want?

Right.

And they literally are an extension of the coach out there and they've

gotta be in in attack mode.

And, and so You know, they, they have to be good practice players.

They have to be students of the game watching the film because when they get

in the game, you know, an old saying in Kentucky that the Hay's in the barn,

you know, and, and if they're going to be, if they're going to be effective,

they're going to be at their best.

They already know what, what I want.

They already know what to do, and they, they can, you know,

go out there and execute it.

You know, that that is a huge, and you know, we, we had a good point

guard last year in Jalen hunter.

I mean, he took care of the ball.

He was terrific defensively, you know, it was a solid three point shooter.

The, the one thing that I alluded to earlier, You know,

he, he just didn't do it.

Wasn't part of his thing was the, you know, the, the ability to to attack

off the bounce and, you know, create.

But, but, you know, he was, he's a coach's son, really smart kid.

And he did a great job of getting us into offense, but, you know, he, he's

a little different than the, those, those other guys that I mentioned.

So, next year we got a big move coming.

We're going to the Sunbelt.

We get to renew our rivalry with JMU twice a year.

How do you think this move is going to impact the basketball?

I, I don't see it having you know, a big impact

in terms of change one way or.

You know, I I'm, I'm excited about the move, you know, it's a new challenge.

We just got back last week from the Sunbelt meetings.

There's some very good coaches in, in the Sunbelt.

I think there's some very good players and there's some really good teams.

It's just that people around the country, outside of the.

I really don't know about them.

There's not a whole lot of difference.

I don't think between the Sunbelt in conference USA.

If there is, it might be that, you know, conference USA is a little bit

deeper than, than, than the Sunbelt.

You know, things like attendance, I, you know, and, and, and obviously ourselves,

Western, Kentucky, and Marshall.

Head and shoulders beyond anybody else.

In terms of attendance, I think us as Marshall and James Madison will

be head and shoulders above anybody else and the Sunbelt in, in terms

of you know, in terms of facilities and in, in terms of attendance.

So I, you know, both, both lakes, quite honestly, they're, they're one.

And we can fight like crazy and we'll continue fighting like crazy.

But what you got gotta do, what you got to set out to do is when the regular

season you know, at the very least that, that guarantees you a spot in the nit

that, that gives you you know, obviously the, the top seat in the tournament

and try to find a way to win the.

You know, other, other than that, it's, it's it, you know,

it was tough in conference USA.

We, we had some success.

We've really stuck it up the last two years down in Frisco.

We, we just, you know, we, we, we ended up our, our, our season on, on just

you know, clunkers And, and the, the Sunbelt tournament is going to be down

in Pensacola and, and hopefully this year you know, we, we, when we get down

there and and it's a week, an entire week earlier, you know, it's, it's

the schedule moved up a little bit.

Hopefully we can play a lot better than, than we have the

last two years in the tournament.

Well, we'll just chalk up the last couple of years of the

tournament to being allergic to that curtain that went right down the

middle of the, a basketball court that.

I had to deal with.

I know I'm excited about going down to Pensacola.

The last time I was there, I spent 13 weeks with a Marine Corps drill

instructor in officer candidate school.

So the prospect of going for basketball, be a lot more fun.

Yeah, the Sunbelt, the Sunbelt has really done a great

job of, of investing in Pensacola, investing in the facility down.

And, and you know, just from everything that I've heard from the league

officials and, and the basketball coaches, you know, that's, it's got

more of a tournament atmosphere than anything that we had in, in, in Frisco.

So I am excited and by the way, you know, thank you for

your service down, down there.

you're welcome, but not needed.

I appreciate it.

So we had the pleasure, Mike and I had the pleasure of the other

night of talking to the guys that, that JMU sports blog they have.

They've had a podcast for quite some time, and they're super excited about

the move to the Sunbelt and talking about schedules and what to expect.

Can you give Monarch nation any idea of when the schedule

might come out?

You know, I, I think with, with our meetings last week you

know, we, we were given a schedule there there's some things that were

discussed as far as the league schedule is concerned that, you know, I, I

think there may be taken a look at it.

I think, you know, it, it, it's, it's set, but it's going to be an 18 game schedule.

It's not travel partners.

Conference USA was it is Thursday, Saturday for the most part.

Sometimes there could be what are called split split weekends, where

you're playing at home one and you're playing on the road or you're playing

on the road and playing at home.

So that, you know, that's a little bit of a, of a change.

There's not a bi-week.

And as I said, the, the, the, the, the.

Conference tournament, the end of the regular season and the conference

tournament is it's all a week earlier.

So rather than, than playing and finishing up as conference USA does

on the Saturday before selection Sunday, you know, it would be the week

before the Saturday, a week before.

So there's, you know, there, there would be a whole week if you're fortunate

enough to, to, to win the tournament a whole week in between that and selection.

As far as the non-conference schedule, we still have one game

to get we thought yesterday we had it and somebody somebody said yes.

And then well, it was two days ago.

And then yesterday they said, oh, hold on a second.

So scheduling is one of the most frustrating aspects.

I don't think people understand how difficult it is.

And especially.

You know, people don't want to come to Norfolk to, to play certainly power fives.

You know, I mean, we, we we've asked we've offered three for ones.

I mean, you know, most people heard two for ones, you know, wait, this

year we were offering offering power fives, three for ones and

you know, Notre Dame, Virginia.

North Carolina, state Georgetown.

I mean, you know, we, we, we just called around to, and, and we

couldn't get anybody that way.

We, we haven't even been able to get anybody to agree to play us on their

court for for a for a guarantee game.

What, what what's happening in, in college basketball is the power fives.

If, if, if they play.

People there they're either playing other power fives or they're playing.

I don't want to say bad.

They're, they're, they're playing people that they, they know

absolutely that they will not lose.

They're there.

They're not going to take the risk of playing, you know, and old dominion or

you know, so some other mid-major that, you know, could, could find a way to

upset a Syracuse or somebody like that.

They, they they're, they're not going on out on that limb anymore.

So you know, it's, it's stuff, Maryland.

You know, we, we had a contract with them.

New coach came in there and they, they basically just broke the contract.

You know, they said, well, they're not going to be very good.

And, you know, I, I, I, I didn't talk to them directly, but my point was,

you guys, we were 13 and 19 last year.

It's not like we were really lightened it up.

But you know, so that they just, hopefully we can get them to play in the future.

It's not it's not the most ethical thing just to break a contract

and say, we're not going to play.

But, but that's, that's, that's what happened there.

Are there any non-conference games that you're excited to?

It.

Yeah, I mean, you know, obviously we, we, oh, Charles.

A game, you know, they, they came here last year and you know,

beat us in overtime and, and really, really, really, you know,

physically beat us as, as, as well.

So we go down there and play.

And, and the ironic thing is we're, we're playing in the the Charleston.

The week before Thanksgiving and just two weeks later, we're returning

the game down to Charleston.

So we'll, we'll be spending a fair amount of time in that city.

You know, we'll, we'll continue with you know, with, with, with William

and Mary I'm trying to think who else.

That, that George Mason, who will be coming down you know, so it, it will be,

you know, it'll be a good a good schedule.

Unfortunately, you know, Maryland did cancel on us and, and we'll just have

to try to get this last game scheduled.

And you know, the, the good thing is, I think we'll be able to announce

the schedule earlier much of.

And then what, what happened pretty much every year with, with conference USA.

We'll be looking forward to that and keeping an eye out.

So earliest season tournaments, can you walk us through the process of

being able to get spots in those?

Are they by invitation only?

Or are you you guys picking up the phones and trying to get into this?

Yeah.

You know, th th they are by invitation only most of them not all, but most

of them you know, there's, there's a tie in, in, you know, for conference

USA, you know, the, the, the, the, the tournaments would have one conference

USA team, you know, per year.

We've, we've been fortunate.

You know, we played in the the, the tournament down in, in, in St.

John.

A couple of times we played in Ken Kuhn.

We played in The Bahamas you know, we've played in some pretty good tournaments.

Last year we were obviously the success wasn't there.

That was a, that was just a bad trip all around one that I

didn't even make in Myrtle beach.

But the Myrtle beach this year, the Charleston, and next year the, the, the

tournament out in Hawaii, those are ESPN.

And you know, there, there tournaments that everybody wants to play in because

the games are all on ESPN platform.

And so we signed a three-year deal with them and, and, and would, and

I particularly would talk to a guy named Peter says that had worked

for a long time for, for ESPN.

This was four or five years ago at the.

Conference USA spring meetings.

And and, and, you know, he, he said, Hey, we'd love to have

you guys sign a three-year deal.

So that's, that's how we got and these three so you're, you're always

looking for, you know, opportunities.

We, we, haven't had to look very hard the last couple of years

because we had the three-year deal.

But you know, this year we'll be Charleston next year.

We'll be Hawaiian.

And then after that, you know, we'll, we'll have to, you know,

find, find another tournament though.

Those are becoming almost the only opportunities, certainly the

best opportunity to play power five teams at, on a neutral site.

And, and, and maybe even to play power five teams at all.

With the great practice facility you guys have in place now at the Mitch,

is there ever been any consideration and trying to host your own internal.

Not, not an MTE.

No.

And I, I, I think you know, at least in part is that the athletic

department and, and probably ODF Really likes it when we can play.

And some of these locations to have the you know, the, our, our, our

supporters travel and go to those places.

I think, you know, it's, it's, it's a great thing for, for the basketball

team to, to play in these, these other tournaments, but it's also you know, an

opportunity for, for our boosters and, and fans to, you know, travel with the team.

A nice location.

And, and you know, in, in enjoy, you know, three or four days of, of ODU basketball,

So coach speaking of travel opportunities for fans I'm sorry

to put this in the notes, but I just kind of popped in my head.

It's been a while since we took a preseason trip overseas

has COVID change that or do we have one in the, in the plant?

COVID definitely changed that we were supposed to go a

couple years, a couple summers ago.

You can go every four years.

It's been about six years now.

I think since we've gone when we were over in Spain We were waiting.

We were hoping, you know, we, we, we had the money, everything was all set.

Anthony travel was the travel agency that had put it together.

And because of COVID, it was canceled.

We we're planning and thinking that we would go this August

and, and, you know, obviously.

Seven new players.

And we didn't know it at the time, but seven new players that this would be

an ideal opportunity to get those 10, you know, 10 extra days of practice

and play in some, some exhibition games overseas, especially in someplace like

Croatia, who has such great basketball.

But when the decision had to be made, you know, there were still issues with

COVID and Croatia because of their law.

They were pretty wide open.

But because of, you know, their laws old dominion, the institution for, for

whatever reason you know, would not allow us to travel now that that might not be

the case now, but when we had to make that decision back in February, I think

it was you know, that that was the case.

So we've kind of kicked that can down the road.

You know, we, we still have the money in, in our enhancement fund.

Hopefully we won't spend, spend it all this year on on charter flights that

that's a priority we we've, you know, in, in, in my nine years here what we

started out with has gradually gotten less and less and less and less as the

prices of charter flights have gone up.

And, and that's, that's you know, being able to charter flights and,

and, you know, buy some home games.

Those are the two big things from a budget standpoint that, that have an

effect on, on one loss records, but across the country, not just it all dominion.

So we are hoping that you know, when, when we finish our schedule, we can

figure out a way to, to get a couple more.

Charter flights to, to make the travel a little bit easier.

That, that, that is one positive.

There's still going to be some pretty good travel in, in the Sunbelt, but you

know, you don't have to go to UTEP or San Antonio eh, you know, it's, it's, it's the

travel isn't as bad and, and hopefully we can stretch our budget because of that.

We can stretch it a little further.

So coach.

I said where we do our fun questions.

Me and Aaron are big foodies and we love to hear what each of our guests

think is the best restaurant in the 7, 5, 7, either on campus or off.

Well you know, I think, I think for me and our staff, the one we

frequent all the time is right across the street and you can never go wrong if

P Frank's Tara and her crew are awesome.

And believe it.

You know, they've got a great Caesar salad.

That's my, that's my normal lunch lunch menu.

Over there.

You wouldn't think of P Frank's as a Caesar salad place, but

it's, it's pretty doggone good.

My favorite restaurant in Norfolk, I think I got to say all Chicago.

You know, great, great seafood and, you know, it's casual and you, you know, you

can get in there and have, have a nice meal and, and be in and out of there.

As far as the, in, in the entire area, I, you know, there's, there's some

really good restaurants, but coastal grill is, is, is it's pretty fantastic.

I think.

All right.

So from music perspective, we haven't had a chance to ever talk about music.

Do you have a favorite musical artist?

And is there a bucket list concert that you just haven't got a chance to

be able to do that you really want?

Yeah, and I doubt that I, I will, but my wife and I have always

talked about you know, van Morrison.

You know, in bell, faster van Morrison in Dublin or someplace like that,

that, that, that might be pretty cool.

I think if you can't get van Morrison, maybe you could get you two over there.

But I, I like all kinds of music.

You know, I listened to a bunch of country music and you know, with

my Charlottesville roots, listening to Dave Matthews is always good.

And then I'm, you know, gosh, I I'm all over the place.

I guess you could call me eclectic, you know?

I, I, I do, I do listen to all, all different all different genres.

I do have to ask you a question.

Well, we had AIJ on our first episode and we asked him.

If there was something to tell us something interesting about

one of the players on the team.

And he said that Austin Trice had the most amazing voice.

Did you ever hear him saying,

No now I don't know if you remember days your addictions.

So Dasia could, could really sing.

He had, he had sung in the church choir.

So whenever we add a birthday, I always got days your to, to

start everybody off singing happy birthday, but I hadn't heard Austin's

Apparently it's quite impressive.

Hey, Austin's not here anymore.

So, you know, I can, I can be, you know, real, real transparent.

I tried to stay as far away from Austin as I could.

Most of the time, I, you know, I could only take so much.

You know, he was, he was a handful and he knew it.

You know, he has Chris Kavinsky the other day.

He said, am I still the worst practice player coach Jones has ever had?

And Chris, and not even close, not even close.

So at least, you know, he's got some self-awareness.

say though, that there were many guys in the floor that

played a harder any game, at least.

Yeah.

I mean, I think when, when, when he was engaged you know, he, he

just went, went all out there.

There's no, in between with Austin, there's no subtlety and that's, that's

on the court, that's off the court, you know, he, he he's the character.

You know apparently he's, he's, he's he's doing all right.

He and Malik were both out in, in, in Vegas you know, playing in, in

some games, you know, I don't know, they don't have the same agent, but

there's a workouts going on out there.

And you know, it looks like they, they, they might get a shot.

Yeah, I hope they find a good landing spot.

So we know you're a big baseball fan.

You traveled down to Columbia last year to support the men's team.

You have talked about being a big gnats, man.

Do you have a favorite player to watch?

Yeah, without a doubt.

Juan Juan Soto you know, I, I, I just, he, he's got a smile

on his face and he's up there.

He's, you know, he's having fun.

He's not as flamboyant as Bryce Harper was and some of these

other guys, but he still has fun.

And, and he's having a horrible year this year, but You know, I, I

just think he's really, really good.

You know, he's only what he, he's not even 23 yet.

I don't, I don't think I just, I can't imagine all this, this

talk about the nets trading.

But you know, I mean, they're, they're going to have to dig deep, you know, if

they're, if they're going to keep him, I mean, when, I don't know how many people

that will be listening or nationals fans, but when, when you've lost Bryce or.

Anthony Rendon trea Turner, max Scherzer.

And now you might turn around and lose one Soto, you know, and maybe

some of these young prospects.

I, I hope they, they, they work out, but you know, is at some point

you got to keep your best player.

I think,

Yeah,

anyway, you can tell I'm a fan.

you got to spend a major league

But,

yeah, I, you know, I mean, some, some teams have gone through that,

you know, the, the, the process and tanking and re restocking.

It doesn't seem like it, it, it works, you know, it certainly

doesn't work all the time.

You know, Tampa bay has been, has been the one that.

Th this has been able to, you know, restock and restock and restock,

but I think there's probably more examples of people that

have tried it and it not worked.

Yeah.

The only other example I could think of is probably the Astros, because

before they got on this run, they were really bad for about two years.

Yeah.

Haven't, haven't the Orioles been for about the last decade.

Pretty much

I think they've been rebuilding since Cal Ripken.

so coach, I'm not sure if you're aware of the Monarch

is do a lot of fundraising.

We try to raise as much money for ODU baseball as we can.

We, worked with the school on sending students to the bowl game and we

do an annual toys for tots drive at the blue lot for the oyster bowl.

We're really proud of it.

And we know you're well known for fundraising for, with a variety

of charities, coaches versus cancer, zero, the prostate cancer.

Foundation Samaritan's feet.

Do you have a favorite that you like to work?

I, you know, they're, they're, they're all very rewarding.

You know, with Samaritan's feet, seeing the, the kids and especially the parent.

You know, that you know, financially, they, they just don't have the

wherewithal and being able to give them a free pair of shoes and you

know, see the smile on their face.

That that's really, really special.

You know, one that you, you did mention is troops first.

Veterans group that, that I've worked with and actually traveled over to

Iraq when the war was going on and Afghanistan to, to, to meet the troops.

But I think the, the, the one that I feel the closest association

with is the coaches versus.

You know, just some wonderful people doing wonderful work.

You know, my, my, my wife is currently working with some, some other women in

the community to, to try to now that hopefully fingers crossed that the COVID

is, is not as big a deal put together a.

An event that you know, that Hampton roads, the Tidewater area can, can

be really, really proud of and, and raise some, some, some funds.

So you know, they're, they're, they're all great, you know, great causes.

But I do think coaches versus cancer is, is probably the one that I enjoy the most.

So coach, we have one final question for you here,

and then we'll let you go.

If you could tell ODU fans one thing about next season, what would it be?

You know, I, I think what, what, what I would say is

you know, talk, talk is cheap and what, what I rather than promising.

A whole lot of things.

I I'd like for us to let our play do our talking.

You know, when, when you've got you're coming off a bad season, like we did

last year, I think in some ways the less said is better and let's just,

you know, kind of keep our, our heads.

And, and focus.

And when I say us, I'm talking about the players and the coaches and, and

let's, let's get it done on the court.

And if, if, if, if we do that, then you know, our fans will, will hear

that and see that loud and clear.

Well, I appreciate your time.

Thank you.

Chris Jones.

Well, thank you guys.

I appreciate the invitation.

And you know, maybe, maybe if, if things go the way that I think they're

there, they're going, you know, maybe we can do it again next year.

And you know, look back on, on you know, a lot of really, really positive things.

We'd love to do that.

You're welcome to come on.

Anytime you want.

Alright.

Thanks coach.