Former DeMatha head coach Mike Jones is coming home. Jones is heading to College Park to become a Maryland men’s basketball program assistant coach after two years at Virginia Tech, per ESPN’s Pete Thamel.
Maryland swung big and hit a home run replacing departed assistant coach Tony Skin. Skin got hired to be the head coach of his alma mater, George Mason. Skinn was a prominent figure in recruiting in the DMV area. However, Maryland head coach Kevin Willard wasted no time landing another notable assistant with significant ties to the area.
Jones is arguably the most respected and well-known assistant coach in the Washington Metropolitan area. He served 19 years as head coach at DeMatha in Hyattsville, Maryland. DeMatha is roughly a 12-minute drive from Maryland’s home arena, the Xfinity Center.
Jones guided DeMatha to nine regular season titles in the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference, viewed as the best high school conference in the nation. He won eight WCAC tournament titles and a national title in 2006.
He also coached for Team USA, leading the U16 National Team to the 2019 U16 World championship in Brazil.
Jones left DeMatha to become the associate head coach at Virginia Tech under head coach Mike Young in 2021. Jones’ value got displayed by recruiting DeMatha’s four-star guard Rodney Rice and DCIAA Player of the Year Darren Buchanan out of Woodrow Wilson high school last offseason.
Coincidentally, Maryland has largely ignored DeMatha players — through former head coaches Gary Williams and Mark Turgeon — despite being a straight car ride away. The last Stags player Maryland signed was Travis Garrison in 2002. It’s a sour note to many basketball enthusiasts in the area.
Maryland’s blind eye for DeMatha played an immense role in center Hunter Dickinson choosing to play at Michigan in 2020. It’s worth noting Dickinson entered the transfer portal this offseason.
Last season Maryland landed DeMatha alum Jahmir Young through the transfer portal from Charlotte. Young is returning to Maryland as a fifth-year senior under the NCAA’s COVID rules. Jones coached both Dickinson and Young at DeMatha.
Current NBA players Markelle Fultz, Jerami Grant, Jerian Grant, Jarius Lyles, and Victor Oladipo played at DeMatha under Jones. Jones also coached Villanova’s Justin Moore and Connecticut’s Jordan Hawkins there.
Skinn was a force in recruiting locally. But now he gets an opportunity as a head coach at the program he helped lead to 2006 Final Four with a Cinderella run. Meanwhile, Maryland rebounded quite nicely with his replacement. Jones was a finalist for the head coach opening at American University. But according to Jeff Ermann of InsideMDSports, Jones dropped out of consideration to take the Maryland assistant position.
