Report: Maryland to hire Virginia Tech assistant Mike Jones

Maryland is expected to hire Virginia Tech assistant Mike Jones to the basketball staff, according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel. He’ll coach under Kevin Willard.

“Sources: Maryland is hiring Virginia Tech assistant Mike Jones,” Thamel wrote on Twitter. “He’s the longtime DeMatha High School coach and USA Basketball staff linchpin who brings deep ties to the DMV area.”

Jones joined Virginia Tech in 2021 after 19 years as the head coach of national prep powerhouse DeMatha (M.D.). He went 511-119 overall as a head coach at the high school level.

Jones won nine Washington Catholic Athletic Conference regular season titles, eight WCAC Tournament crowns and four Maryland Private School Tournament championships.

Notably, Jones coached former Michigan center and standout Hunter Dickinson, who recently entered the NCAA transfer portal.

A standout player at Old Dominion University from 1991-92 through 1994-95, Jones was a member of the All-Colonial Athletic Association second team and earned CAA All-Tournament team honors in his senior season, in which he averaged 16.5 ppg. Jones led the Monarchs to NCAA Tournament appearances in 1992 and 1995, and he capped his ODU career with 1,166 points. 

Following his career at ODU, Jones played professionally in the CBA and International Basketball Association, where he was all-league first team in 1997. He also played professionally in Portugal, Hong Kong, Finland and the Dominican Republic.

Hunter Dickinson enters NCAA transfer portal

After three All-Big Ten appearances, a Consensus All-American honor and serving as the Wolverines’ starting center and leading scorer since the moment he stepped foot on campus back in 2020, Dickinson entered the portal and looks to spend his senior season elsewhere.

Due to his ties to Jones, there is natural speculation linking Dickinson to the Terrapins. It would be a monumental in-conference transfer.

The 7-foot-1 big man just became the Moby Dick of the portal so far this cycle. It’s not often you see the leading scorer of a program as prestigious as Michigan become available — even rarer, an All-American and three-time All-Big Ten performer. Sure, the low-post, back-to-the-basket center has become sort of a lost art, but there’s still a place for a dominant inside presence like Dickinson in today’s game.

For starters, he’s always been efficient and prolific. Dickinson shot a smidge under 60% from inside the arc during his three seasons in Ann Arbor and scored more than 1,600 total points. Another season like the last few in 2023-24 and he’ll surpass 2,000. Dickinson also rebounds the heck out of the ball, a valuable trait in any era of hoops.

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Lastly, he started shooting threes this year and he remained efficient, knocking down 24 of 57 total triples, good for 42.1%. Most of those were wide open, but the mere fact defenses have to respect his stroke will make offense much smoother with him on the court.

Alex Weber contributed to this report