Maryland men’s basketball to hire Mike Jones as assistant coach

Pitt v Virginia Tech — Photo by Ryan Hunt/Getty Images

Jones, most recently an assistant at Virginia Tech, coached at DeMatha Catholic High School for 19 years.

Maryland men’s basketball will hire Mike Jones as an assistant coach, a source confirmed to Testudo Times. The news was first reported by ESPN’s Pete Thamel Monday afternoon.

Jones will fill the void left by Tony Skinn, who recently departed Maryland’s staff to become the head coach at George Mason.

Jones, who has spent the last two seasons as an assistant at Virginia Tech, has strong connections to the DMV area. He was the head coach at DeMatha Catholic High School in Hyattsville, Maryland, for 19 years, where he coached a plethora of college- and professional-level players, including current Maryland point guard Jahmir Young.

Jones was wildly successful at DeMatha, amassing an .811 winning percentage, nine Washington Catholic Athletic Conference titles, four Maryland private school state championships and a national championship in 2006. During his time there, Jones coached five NBA players — Markelle Fultz, Jerami Grant, Jerian Grant, Jarius Lyles and Victor Oladipo. Jones was also the head coach for a wide variety of current college stars, like Young, Jordan Hawkins (Connecticut), Justin Moore (Villanova) and Michigan star center Hunter Dickinson, who recently announced he was entering the transfer portal.

Jones also has plenty of experience coaching with USA Basketball, earning the 2019 USA Basketball Developmental Coach of the Year award after leading the U16 men’s national team to a gold medal at the FIBA Americas 16U Championship and coaching with the men’s junior national team.

Skinn quickly developed a reputation as an ace recruiter and was the lead man on many of the Terps’ recent recruiting successes, but Jones’ local ties are strong and bode well for his ability to bring high-level talent to Maryland.

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