Virginia Tech associate head coach Mike Jones is departing for a similar position at the University of Maryland, according to Pete Thamel of ESPN.
Jones joined the Hokies for the 2021-22 season after previously serving as the head coach at DeMatha for 19 seasons. He also served as a youth coach for USA Basketball. His hire immediately gave Mike Young and Virginia Tech an “in” with recruiting in the DMV, which quickly led to the signings of Rodney Rice and Darren Buchanan. AJ Swinton is committed to Tech in the 2024 recruiting class.
However, Buchanan entered the transfer portal last month after redshirting as a true freshman. Rice, who played for Jones at DeMatha, missed most of the season with an injury. Swinton is still in high school and not scheduled to sign until this November.
Jones originally replaced Chester Frazier on the staff at Virginia Tech. Frazier was a defensive specialist who departed for an assistant coaching job at Illinois, his alma mater. Head coach Mike Young could choose to replace Jones with another recruiter from the DMV, but current assistant Christian Webster is from D.C. and could recruit that area.
Young could also choose to go back with a defensive specialist like Frazier, and a guy like Jamal Brunt would make sense. Brunt played at Randolph-Macon and has spent nearly his entire career in Virginia coaching under the likes of Chris Mooney and Mike Rhoades. However, he recently followed Rhoades from VCU to Penn State as associate head coach, which makes that hire seem unlikely. Radford assistant coach Shane Nichols could also be mentioned as a possibility for the opening. He played and coached under Young at Wofford.