NORFOLK, VA (WTKR)- Jeff Jones has spent his entire life in the game of basketball. Monday saw his 41-year coaching career come to an end.
In a packed Chartway Arena press room, in front of past and present players, his coaching staff and Old Dominion administrators, Jones announced his retirement as the head coach of the Monarchs, ending his 11-year run leading the program and turning the page to his next chapter.
"I knew at some point it would happen," Jones said of retiring. "December 20 kind of changed stuff and it gave me an opportunity to think about how grateful I am and what really matters."
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Jeff Jones to retire as Old Dominion head basketball coach
December 20 is the day the head coach suffered a heart attack the night before ODU's first game of the Diamond Head Classic in Honolulu. He's been out on leave ever since, recovering from the event while also resuming treatment for prostate cancer. Jones said Monday that he's been a good patient, eating well and staying active, and that his health is great, but acknowledged that part of the reason he feels so well is because he doesn't have the stress that comes along with being a coach.
"There's still a part of me, not an insignificant part, that wants to coach," he said. "I feel great, but I think a big part of the feeling great is also not having that stress that I've had for 41 years as a coach, 32 as a head coach, and believe me, it's different not being in that pressure cooker."
Jones began his coaching career at Virginia as an assistant in 1982. He was elevated to head coach in 1990 and spent eight seasons leading his alma mater. After a year as an assistant at Rhode Island, Jones took the head coaching job at American, where he spent 13 seasons before arriving in Norfolk in 2013. During his career, he's created bonds with countless players and formed lifelong relationships, ones he remembered Monday.
Watch the full press conference on Jeff Jones's retirement:
"The number of people that I've had the pleasure and the privilege of being associated with over all of those years is just amazing," an emotional Jones said. "All of the friends, the administrators, the coaches, the players and on and on, I feel like I'm a really lucky person."
During his 11 seasons at Old Dominion, Jones was 203-131, leading the Monarchs to the NCAA Tournament in 2019 after they won the Conference USA title. ODU won the Vegas 16 in 2016 and advanced to the NIT semifinal the season prior. Monarch athletic director Dr. Wood Selig knows Jones well, having worked with him before at Virginia, where Selig was the senior associate athletic director from 1988-1999.
"We worked together for a long, long time as assistant coach, then as head coach and have certainly continued that relationship here for 11 years," Selig noted. "It's a long-standing personal, professional relationship and I'm really going to miss working with Coach Jones."
Selig added that the search for Jones's replacement begins immediately. The athletic department will hire a search firm to assist in finding the next head coach, but Monday was about honoring Jones, a basketball lifer who gave his all to the program. He informed his staff of his decision Sunday evening and spoke with the team Monday morning before the official release went out announcing the press conference.
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"What was really hard was when I had to tell them I wasn't going to finish the season," the head coach said of telling his players. "I felt like I was abandoning them and it's always been about the team and, at that time, I had to think about myself and that was really, really hard and very emotional...
"There was certainly some emotion today, but it wasn't anywhere near that."
So what's next? Jones isn't sure, but said he and his family plan to stay in the area. The now-former head coach does not want to jump from one high-pressure job to another and ideally he'd like to do something that will allow him to give back.
"If anything, I want to do something that can impact people in a positive way," he noted. "I've really, really, really enjoyed my time working with Samaritan's Feet and the Coaches vs. Cancer and Troops First. Is there some kind of role in something like that? I don't know, but that will be the next step. I haven't looked to far ahead."
Old Dominion enters the final week of the regular season 7-22, 3-13 in Sun Belt play. The Monarchs wrap up their schedule at Appalachian State on Wednesday before the finale at Georgia State on Friday night. ODU will tip off in the conference tournament next Tuesday.
