NORFOLK, VA (WTKR)- Mike Jones was ready to take the reins at Old Dominion, a place he loves and has poured a lot into as a player and alumnus. Now he wants to establish something with the Monarchs as their head coach.
"My love for this place I hope comes out in my coaching and in our preparation," Jones said Tuesday during Sun Belt media day. "This is a special place to me. It means the world to me and I just want to make these people here proud."
Jones is less than three weeks away from putting his first team on the court in Norfolk. It will be a large number of new players, with some familiar faces mixed in. With a new staff, new players and establishing a new culture, there have been ups and downs, but the head coach says that's to be expected with any program.
"We have our good days and we have our bad ones," the head coach smiled. "There are some days where everything seems seamless and I'm just like 'man, I can't believe we're so far ahead of schedule,' and then other days I'm just like 'man, we've got a lot of work to do.' "
That's all part of basketball and any given season. 13 new players grace this year's roster, with four players who saw significant minutes last season returning in Imo Essien, Dani Pounds, Devin Ceaser and R.J. Blakney. Jones and his staff are focused on teaching the team how to handle those ups and downs so the Monarchs can perform and their best when it counts.
"I understand how difficult the game of basketball is and I understand and I understand how difficult our league will be," Jones noted. "Preparing every single day and just being able to adjust when those hiccups and speed bumps come and keeping our unit together is the most important thing."
Part of the new head coach's preparation was becoming familiar with the Sun Belt and its teams. Old Dominion stumbled to a 3-15 conference record last season (7-25 overall), with six of the league losses coming by seven points or less. Early on, Jones has been impressed by what he's seen in the league during his research.
"I think one of the cool things is the different style. Not everybody plays the same way," he pointed out. "The Sun Belt I think has a little bit of everything, so it does provide a different challenge for each team every single night."
Jones feels his team has depth, saying that a handful of players are competing for starting spots as the season approaches. While some of those jobs are locked in, he says several of the positions are still up for grabs. The work is being put in and whether it's a newcomer or veteran, the group is adjusting to playing together in a new era of Monarch basketball.
"We're going through all these experiences and we're learning each other and I think it's brought our team closer faster than maybe would've happened if you had four guys telling everybody what to do and how to do it," Jones said. "The fact that we've grown and gone through this together I think will be something that we can kind of hold on to as to whatever success we have this season, it's one of the reasons why."
Old Dominion tips off its season November 4 at Chartway Arena against Buffalo. Tipoff is set for 7:00 PM.
