Longtime Old Dominion head coach Jeff Jones retiring after health issues

Jeff Jones spent 32 seasons and won 560 career games as a head coach at Old Dominion, American and Virginia. (Ryan M. Kelly/Getty Images)

Old Dominion coach Jeff Jones is calling it a career.

Jones, who stepped away multiple times due to health issues this season, is retiring from the sport after 32 seasons as a head coach, the school announced on Monday.

A career to remember 🏆

✍️ 560 Career Wins (263 at Old Dominion)
✍️ 2x Coach of the Year (09’ American, 19’ C-USA)
✍️ 8 NCAA Tournament Appearances
✍️ Lead 3 Different Programs to NCAA Tournament
✍️ Lead Old Dominion to 1st ever Top 25 Ranking in 2015
✍️ Retires as 19th… pic.twitter.com/Cj6wTDf4J6

— ODU Men’s Basketball (@ODU_MBB) February 26, 2024

Jones first experienced a heart attack in December ahead of Old Dominion’s appearance at the Diamond Head Classic in Hawaii. He then announced last month that he needed to step away for the rest of the 2023-24 season to undergo prostate cancer treatments. The 63-year-old was first diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2015, and was again in 2018. Assistant coach Kieran Donohue has led the program on an interim basis in Jones’ absence.

Jones first took over at Old Dominion in 2013. He’s led the Monarchs for the past 11 seasons and compiled a 203-131 record there. They won both a regular-season and conference-tournament title in 2019, too, which resulted in their only NCAA tournament appearance under Jones.

Before landing at Old Dominion, Jones spent 13 seasons coaching at American and another eight seasons at Virginia. In total, he’s won 560 games, six regular-season conference titles, reached the NCAA tournament eight times and won the NIT title in 1992.

“I feel extremely blessed to have had the opportunity to coach college basketball for 41 years,” Jones said in a statement. “These past 11 years at Old Dominion University have been especially rewarding … Basketball has given me a life that exceeded all of my expectations. It is hard to step away from coaching, but I will always be grateful to the people along the way who made this career possible. Thank you to the players, the assistants, the administrators, the fans, the families, and the friends who have been part of this journey — you will be a member of my team for life.”

Old Dominion currently holds a 7-22 record this season, which has it in last place in the Sun Belt standings. The Monarchs will close out their regular season this week against Appalachian State and Georgia Southern.