The son of former Washington Bullet Jimmy Jones, you’d thinkMike Jones would’ve taken in some classic 1970s-era NBAbasketball. Not so much.
“Danny Ferry’s dad [Bob Ferry] wasthe general manager of the Bullets at the time,” Mike Jonessaid. “During the game we’d be in the bowels of thebuilding. They had a family room, and it was stocked with food.They had a pool table, ping pong tables. We’d be there thewhole game. I had no idea what kind of player my dad was until Italked to people. We’d be down there having aball!”
The good news for VCU basketball fans is thatJones has done a good job making up for lost time.
Now in his second season with the Rams, the45-year-old is the veteran on Shaka Smart’s staff, which hasoverseen a near-record 27 wins last year, and landing one of thetop mid-major recruiting classes in the country.
“He brings a wealth of experience both interms of on-floor coaching and recruiting,” Smart said.“His character is second to none and he has a tremendousability to develop strong relationships with student-athletes,coaches, fans, high school coaches and the like.”
He’s fast to point out that levels ofexperience can be overstated, but Jones admits that a long resumehas something to offer.
“All those experiences over theyears…I mean, you’ve seen these situations before andyou have that track record of what’s worked and whathasn’t,” Jones said. “You have that repository ofinformation, which is valuable. Like a player, you feel good whenthose guys are juniors and seniors, because they’ve beenthrough it before, so there’s not a shock to thesystem.”
VCU will be sixth collegiate stop inJones’ 15-year coaching career, one which has seen plenty oftriumphs and trials. Jones’ last stop was his longest, asix-year stint on Dennis Felton’s staff at Georgia from2003-09.
Despite the NCAA sanctions that held Jones andhis fellow coaches under wraps for six years, Georgia managed an87-100 record and three postseason berths in six seasons. Thecrowning achievement of Jones’ stay with the Bulldogs came in2008, when sixth-seeded Georgia won four games in three days tocomplete the most improbable SEC Tournament run inhistory.
“Our motto that year was persevere,”Jones said. “That’s what it was all about. That’swhat it’s about in sports. Things go crazy during the courseof the season, up and down. The guys who persevere are the guys whocome out in the end.”
Although the challenges at Georgia were many,Jones managed to make a name for himself. Despite the black cloudof NCAA sanctions, Rivals.com named Jones one of thenation’s 25 best recruiters in 2005.
“He’s one of those people that can relate to a lot ofdifferent people,” Bliss said. “His knowledge ofthe game is excellent and his people skills are excellent. In thatrespect, he can really differentiate himself from a lot of otherguys.”
In addition to Georgia, Jones had previouslyworked under John Beilein at Richmond from 2000-2002 and during theearly stages of his rebuilding project at West Virginia in2002-2003. Prior to coming to the Rams, Jones has been working toturn around programs in distress. So when the opportunity to workat VCU arose, he jumped at the chance.
“I feel like I died and went toheaven,” Jones joked. “It’s a bigdifference going to a program that’s used to winning, asopposed to a program that’s not used to winning. Theexpectations are higher from the outside looking in, from thecommunity, from the administration, but it’s also higher fromthe players. They are used to it. It’s an addictive feelingand they want to keep doing it.”
Jones didn’t exactly grow up wanting to bea coach, even if he was living a basketball lifestyle as a kid.Jones’ father was a star guard in the ABA and the familymoved from New Orleans to Memphis to Utah between 1967 and 1974. In1974, Jimmy Jones signed with the Bullets in the NBA, where heremained until a torn ACL ended his career in 1977. After hisretirement, the Joneses stayed in nearby Silver Spring, Md.
Mike Jones grew up around basketball, but he wasalso heavily involved in baseball and soccer. It wasn’t untilhe got to Paint Branch High School that he decided to turn hisattention fully on basketball.
After an outstanding high school career, hestayed close to home and attended Howard University, where heplayed basketball and majored in zoology. His initial plan was tobecome a doctor. Jones starred for the Bison for four years and asa freshman, he forged a friendship with Felton, who he calls thebiggest influence on his coaching career.
Once he graduated in 1990, Jones had turned hisattention away from the medical field and onto basketball. Althoughhe took a job at an animal testing facility after graduation, hewas also spending his nights as the head junior varsity andassistant varsity coach at Sidwell Friends School in Washington,D.C.
“I knew I liked coaching, but once Istarted coaching that team, I knew right then,” Jones said.“You can feel the difference between a job and acareer.”
In 1994, Jones took his first collegiate job– at his alma mater. In addition, he also married his collegesweetheart, Sharon, that year.
He later moved onto to Furman, where he stayed from 1997-2000.He joined Beilein’s staff at Richmond in 2000 and helped theSpiders to a pair of 20-win seasons and three straight NITberths.
