NORFOLK, VA (WTKR)- It's been an eventful summer for Old Dominion's Delisha-Milton Jones. The head coach has bounced around the world and her trophy case has gotten a little bit more full.
Milton-Jones was an assistant coach for the U-19 Team USA that claimed gold at the FIBA Women's World Cup in Madrid, Spain, last month. The head Monarch joined News 3's Marc Davis in-studio on Monday to discuss her experience.
"It was a tremendous experience, knowing that we are the USA and we are going to pit ourselves against the rest of the world," Milton-Jones said. "Everyone respects us, but they still want to beat us and we had a tough competition ahead of us and we went out and got the gold."
This marked the third straight year Milton-Jones was an assistant for Team USA. The U18 squad that she coached won the World Cup last year in Argentina, but her medals stretch far beyond coaching. Milton-Jones won Olympic gold in 2000 and 2008 as a player and was a 17-year veteran of the WNBA.
"I understand everything that the athlete is going through, mentally, physically and emotionally," she pointed out. "Now on the sidelines as a coach, I understand how to verbalize exactly what they need in order to be able to succeed in that moment."
The international coaching experience is something in which Milton-Jones takes pride, being among the best in the world as both a player and a coach. She also has found traits from her time with USA Basketball that she can apply to her own program at Old Dominion.
"That same standard of excellence that we utilize to be the USA and to bring back a gold is the same standard of excellence that is our mantra here for ODU women's basketball," she pointed out. "Traditionally our program has been known as one of the powerhouses of women's basketball. When you look at programs that have over 1,000 wins, we're in the top eight in the country."
Old Dominion finished last season 22-12, 12-6 in Sun Belt play, and advanced to the semifinals of the conference tournament. Milton-Jones has higher hopes for year two in the league, a season that sees 10 new players grace the roster for the Monarchs.
"We have our sights set on crossing the finish line," she said. "Getting to the semifinals of the Sun Belt Conference is admirable, but when you're that close you really have to go to the drawing board and assess what was it and sometimes it comes down to a possession or a mindset in a moment or not being engaged after the timeout to execute."
Milton-Jones and Old Dominion open official practice in late September and tip off their regular season November 7 at home against Lincoln.
