Old Dominion Coach Jeff Jones’ Inspirational Story

Even in the darkest hours of life, one should not surrender. Simply, there is no time to regret things done or missed. In those moments, there is just a need for pushing forward.

That is what Jeff Jones does. Old Dominion Monarchs coach currently fights cancer. That vicious opponent is by far the toughest one in his life. Jones beat him already once before in 2015, but it came back.

Yet even with such problems, the 58-year old doesn’t want to neglect the thing he loves the most – basketball.

His Old Dominion won the Conference USA tournament this Saturday and cliched the spot at the NCAA tournament. This is Jones’ third team with whom he reaches the March Madness.

After the final game against Western Kentucky, while everybody celebrated and screamed, he stood for a while near the sideline and put his face in a towel.

The feelings he experienced were too big for him to control them.

“At the conclusion of the game, my emotions overwhelmed me a little bit,” Jones said.

ODU’s head coach Jeff Jones is battling prostate cancer and ODU just won C-USA. Pretty awesome moment. pic.twitter.com/wR3S5eIz36

— Bobby Reagan (@BarstoolReags) March 17, 2019

That happened partially because of his overall situation, and also because Old Dominion hadn’t played at the NCAA tournament since 2011.

In the past few years, the Monarchs were on the verge of reaching the postseason, but they somehow always ended up short, failing to take that one final step. It was another reason for his burst of emotions, and he didn’t have a problem admitting that.

“The one threshold we hadn’t crossed was getting to the tournament. I think the cumulative effect of having good seasons and falling short was another reason,” Jones added.

The fighting spirit Jones shows inspired his players to go beyond their possibilities and to bring smiles on the faces of their fans, families, themselves… and to cause several tears of their coach.

They are a hard-working team, who plays tough defense and doesn’t have any notable talents on its roster. Everything they earned came after a lot of effort and fierce battles.

It could be said that the team reflects its coach, who also faces a lot of adversities every day. It is not easy to receive therapy and to lead a basketball team at the same time.

“When people talk about fighting cancer, that’s what you’re talking about — there’s going to be bad days, and you fight through,” Jones said. “You bear down, just like we ask the players to if they’re tired in a game or whatever. It is a fight, it is a competition.”

His players and closest friends are often saying to the media that the intensity of his practice sessions and his approach to every game hasn’t changed a bit. Those who don’t know his situation would never tell that Jones fights prostate cancer.

“You’d never know he had cancer,” senior guard Ahmad Caver commented when recently one local media interviewed him.

This fighter previously led his Virginia Cavaliers to the NCAA tournament five times as a coach and two times as a player, even reaching the Final Four in 1981. As a player and later as a coach he spent 20 years with the Cavaliers, becoming one of the central figures in their rich history.

He also left his mark at the American University where he spent 13 years, leading the Eagles to four Patriot League titles. Jones made his name eternal there, by reaching the NCAA Tournament for the first time in the history of this elite school in 2008. He repeated the success during the next year also.

Now, he and his Monarch are facing the No.3 seed Purdue Boilermakers. Though they are absolute underdogs, Old Dominion’s boys are not going to surrender. They will keep fighting until the end.

Following the example of their coach.

We sincerely hope to see Jones on the bench for a long, long time, and send our support to him.

Let this be a and introduction for the upcoming NCAA Tournament and a valuable life lesson. We will also use this chance to inform you that Jeff Jones and his wife, Danielle, raise money to help Hope Lodge, an organization which helps cancer patients, providing the accommodation for the ones who need to travel in order to receive the treatment.

If you can and want to help this noble cause, see more information on this link.