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NCAA MEN'S 1ST AND 2ND ROUNDS: HARTFORD

March 20, 2019

Jeff Jones

Hartford, Connecticut

JEFF JONES: Like pretty much everybody else, we're thrilled to be in the tournament. Our team has done a great job all year long. We defend, we play a 40-minute game. But I think the thing that we do best is compete. I have no idea what's going to happen tomorrow, but I'm pretty sure that our guys are going to come out and compete and certainly try to challenge a very good Purdue basketball team.

Q. Coach, I know this is about your team, but obviously the fight you've been waging against cancer, can you address how that changed your perspective of the season and how you think it's changed the perspective for the players in terms of guys looking at what you do and then coming to work every day and then knowing what they have to do?
JEFF JONES: I'll answer the second part of that first. Hopefully, it hasn't changed them a whole lot. My intention, when I went public in September, I wanted to let them know, simply because I didn't want anybody -- them hearing from anyone else.

I didn't want them changing anything. I wanted them to have the same experience that they would have had normally. I wanted them to know that I was going to be there for them, that this wasn't going to change anything as far as how I was going to coach, or me being there for them. I wanted them to know that I had their back. So hopefully they haven't had to adjust too much. We didn't talk about it a whole lot, and I don't think they probably noticed a whole lot of difference in me from this year to the year before.

I think any time you have any health issues, it changes your own perspective. And I think that certainly has happened for me, not just pertaining to basketball, but pertaining to all areas of your life. I've been told -- I don't know if this is true or not -- that I've mellowed out a little bit. The players might disagree, I don't know. But I think there is -- if nothing else, there's probably a greater appreciation. As you get older, and then throw in the health stuff, you know, I think a greater appreciation, just for normal everyday occurrences. And then when you have an achievement and accomplishment like this for our basketball team, I think it becomes even more special.

And, you know, I certainly appreciate having the opportunity to be here, to bring ODU to the NCAA Tournament. Old Dominion has had a great history from a basketball perspective, and there are expectations in Norfolk and Old Dominion. So, I think besides just being happy that we made it and we won the Conference USA Tournament, I think there's certainly an element of relief to finally be able to cross that threshold. And then for me on a personal note, because it at times had been a tough year, you know, I think it made it even sweeter.

Q. Coach, I don't know if you know this, but of the eight teams playing in Hartford this week, Old Dominion is the only one that's played a tournament game here in Hartford. My question is two parts: Number one, what were you doing in March of 1985? And, two, what do you need to do to get past the first round this year? I think Old Dominion lost against SMU in the first round.
JEFF JONES: March 1985, I was an assistant coach at Virginia. In 1985, I'm thinking that wasn't a real good year for us. I think we were either done or getting ready for the NIT.

What do we need to do? Number one, we need to play like heck. Purdue is an extremely well-coached basketball team. Matt Painter, in my estimation, may be the number one most underrated basketball coach out there right now. Year in, year out, he does an outstanding job, and this year's is no different. We know they will be very well prepared. We've got to be ready for Carson Edwards, but I'm not sure -- we'll try to be there. We'll try to make him work and contest. But sometimes when he gets on a roll, there's not a whole lot you can do. I think our mentality is trying to make sure that he and all of the others have to work for everything that they can get.

I think the big key, quite honestly, is can we run our offense and make some shots. And in the Conference USA Tournament, we were able to hold our three opponents to under 60 points. That's not going to happen tomorrow night. We can play great defense, and we're not holding Purdue to 50 points. That means we've got to score at a greater rate. That's something that's been difficult for us at times this year. We've struggled.

I think it's a mischaracterization when people say, they look at the scoring and all that, and say we want to play at a slow tempo. We want to run every chance that we get. We just want to make sure we do a great job of having defensive balance in our defensive transition and get back and try to hold the opposition in the half-court. So I think the tempo is important. We're not walking the ball down the court. That doesn't help us at all. But we want to try to be opportunistic from an offensive standpoint. And defensively, keep doing the things we've been able to do all year long.

Q. Coach, first of all, what went into the decision to go public with your health issues? Have you thought about not coaching anymore, or is this something that gets your mind off it or something you want to do until you can't anymore, or until you're old.
JEFF JONES: Sometimes I feel pretty old already, so I don't know when that occurs.

So, initially, I was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2015. I had radical prostatectomy surgery, followed up by eight weeks of radiation. I was cancer-free for over a year and then it came back in the summer of 2017. We monitored it closely, but there was no urgency to start treatment at that point, so the circle of people that knew was very, very small. Basically, it was family and not even all of them.

Last summer, the summer of 2018, the cancer began to grow, and so I needed to begin the treatment. And the therapy, the side effects from that therapy, were such that there was not going to be a way to keep it private, that it was going to get out. I wanted to control the message. I wanted my players to hear it from me. I wanted friends and family and professional colleagues to hear it from me. So that's basically why I decided to make the announcement.

Now, coupled with that, I figured -- and my wife was really, really important in this part -- I figured if I was going to go through this, kind of given my status as a college basketball -- or, visibility is probably a better word -- as a college basketball coach, that perhaps I could do some good in being public and bringing awareness to the fight against prostate cancer and trying to present, or more importantly, detect early on the onset of prostate cancer. Encouraging men over the age of 50 to get their PSA checked, because prostate cancer, while it's a common cancer, is one that, you know, you can control if you detect it early.

So, trying to bring awareness to that was also kind of a secondary -- well, not a secondary -- a second goal that was important to me.

Q. Coaching future?
JEFF JONES: Coaching future? Coaching is not just something that I do. That's who I am. So I have every intention of continuing to coach. You know, the idea of not coaching, the idea of retirement, that's not even on the radar at this point. I think -- you know, I had heard in our community this year, there were people saying, oh, this is going to be his last year. I mean, I guess I understand how stuff like that gets started, but there's absolutely no truth to that. And, to be honest, I haven't even looked that far ahead. I'm pretty good at compartmentalizing and focusing on what's immediately in front of me, and I haven't thought past March for months.

Q. How have you had to manage it physically, in terms of just going through a treatment and just getting through a day. What is that like for you?
JEFF JONES: You know, it's not like every day is torture. I mean, most days, it's fine. The side effects are there. The side effects aren't a whole lot of fun, but there have only been a handful of days where it's really kind of, you know, really affected me. And I'm very fortunate, with my wife being just, you know, a great friend and supporter and confidante and helping me through those days.

But I think especially knowing that I've got a wonderful coaching staff, guys that I've known for years, and they've been great at picking up the slack if there's been a day where maybe I just -- I need to stay at home and not come in in the morning. And there haven't been many of those. But when they are, those guys have helped me. So I think having a great support network is how you get through that.

And then, I'd be really remiss if I didn't mention, you know, my boss, bosses, Wood Selig and John Broderick, our president, have been explicit in telling me, make sure you take care of yourself and don't overdo it. And when you've got that kind of support from the people above you, as well as the people that are around you on a daily basis, I won't say it makes it easy, but you can get through it. Everybody has some bad days. You know, I had some of those this year, but we were able to plow on through and obviously be successful.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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