NORFOLK — First-year Old Dominion men’s basketball coach Mike Jones will earn a base salary of $225,000 with an annual supplemental income of $300,000 through private, non-state funds in addition to a number of possible incentive-induced bonuses, according to a contract obtained this week by The Virginian-Pilot.
The contract, signed by Jones on May 2 and by athletic director Wood Selig and university president Brian O. Hemphill a day later, is for five years and includes an automatic one-year extension for each time the Monarchs reach the NCAA Tournament.
The Monarchs hired Jones, 50, on March 1 to replace Jeff Jones, who retired after a pair of health issues cut short his 2023-24 season. Mike Jones had most recently been an assistant at Maryland and Virginia Tech after 19 seasons as the head coach at Maryland’s DeMatha Catholic High.
Asked about his incentive-laden deal after a team workout this week, Mike Jones chuckled.
“To be honest with you, I haven’t really looked at my contract,” the former ODU star said. “I let my agent handle that. I wanted to be here. Yeah, I want to be here. This is home for me, and I’m excited to be here.”
Among the incentives in the contract:
- A $10,000 bonus for an outright regular-season conference championship or a $5,000 bonus for a shared title.
- $5,000 for an appearance in the conference tournament championship game.
- A $25,000 bonus for an appearance in the NCAA Tournament as well as a $25,000 increase in supplemental pay for each year remaining on the contract.
- $10,000 per NCAA Tournament win.
- $50,000 for a Final Four appearance.
- $100,000 for a national championship.
- A $20,000 pool bonus for Jones’ assistants for reaching the NCAA Tournament.
- A $25,000 pool bonus for Jones’ assistants for reaching the Final Four.
The contract also includes a $20,000 bonus for moving expenses, courtesy cars for Jones and his spouse and a country club membership.
The contract, which is fairly standard, is similar to that of Jeff Jones, whose base salary of $242,012 was supplemented by $283,200 in private funds as well as a number of the same kinds of performance-based incentives.
Mike Jones admitted this week, as he did during his introductory press conference, that his agent found him to be a poor negotiator after landing the job at his alma mater.
“I’m looking forward to this,” Jones said, motioning toward the court at the Monarchs’ practice facility as his players put up shots and continued to try to get to know each other. “Those things, they are what they are. I don’t want to say I don’t care. Obviously, I have to. But in the grand scheme of things, it’s not at the top of my priorities.”
ODU returns six players, including four on scholarship, from a hard-luck team that went 7-25 overall and 3-15 in the Sun Belt Conference last season.
The Monarchs finished the season under interim coach Kieran Donohue, who remains at the school in a fundraising role.
Two top players, including leading scorer Vasean Allette, were dismissed from the team for disciplinary reasons during the season.
A handful of others, including remaining leading scorer Chaunce Jenkins, entered the transfer portal after the season, leaving Mike Jones to rebuild the roster like many coaches around the country are forced to do in college basketball’s current transient climate.
Jeff Jones suffered a heart attack in December while the team was playing in a tournament in Hawaii. A later recurrence of prostate cancer conspired to end his season and ultimately helped lead to his retirement after a combined 41 years at the University of Virginia, American University and ODU.
Mike Jones, meanwhile, seeks one more scholarship player to add to a sea of new faces. He and his wife, Stayce, are getting settled back into the area, and they have a promising lead on a home they hope to purchase in the coming weeks.
“If we’re able to do that, I’ll feel much better, much more comfortable,” Jones said. “But to be honest with you again, my focus is on filling the roster out.”
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David Hall, [email protected].
