Old Dominion wanted a new men's basketball coach who would fire up the fan base.

It appears they've got one.


If Internet banter is any barometer, Jeff Jones is a lightning rod for discontent and anger. A chorus of disgruntled boosters is forming around the belief that nothing but disappointment can come from his hiring.

No, the mob is not always right. But in this case, their torches are illuminating a lack of inspiration among the ODU leadership.

Jones is a letdown, but the vitriol shouldn't be aimed at the coach. After all, he only applied for and accepted a job. The crowd's wrath is better directed at Wood Selig. The athletic director's decision is dumbfounding.

When the result of a national search turns up a 52-year-old coach who has worked 13 seasons at American University in the obscure and lackluster Patriot League, it makes you wonder if ODU basketball has as much to sell as it thinks it does.

In so many words, critics of the hire are asking, "Is that the best ODU can do?"

You'd think not. But is there something about the school that makes it less attractive to basketball coaches? Does the emphasis on football create doubt about the school's commitment to roundball?

Those concerns, though, should be offset by a venue as nice as the Constant Center, the promise of a new practice facility and, most of all, ODU's long tradition of success and fan support.

Maybe ODU's problem at the moment is that Selig just isn't the right salesman.

What happened to the idea of finding a coach on his way up? Isn't that what fans had every reason to anticipate? Before selecting a middle-aged coach as far off the radar as Jones, why not take a chance on a young, unknown assistant with glowing references?

The relationship between Selig and Jones, then, will play a role in how this move is perceived. They are friends from their time together at the University of Virginia, where Selig was an administrator. People will process this information and at least some - if not most - will arrive at the conclusion that cronyism is at work here.

In the '90s, Jones coached U.Va. to five NCAA tournaments. But that was a lifetime ago and has no relevance today. His ancient ACC ties will do him no good in recruiting, either, with players or high school coaches. Too much time has passed.

In some ways, ODU appears to be running in place.

Just as Jones makes for a comforting figure from Selig's past, the color of ODU's head coaches suggests that the school isn't keeping pace with the diversity of society.

Jones becomes yet another white coach at a place in which every other head coach is white. ODU is justly proud that its enrollment and alumni cover a full range of races and nationalities, but in this one area - athletics - the school is conspicuously pallid.


If this isn't at least a little awkward for Selig, maybe it should be for those above him in the chain of command. There are many qualified black assistant coaches looking for a break - ODU interviewed several, in fact. And with college basketball, a sport dominated by black athletes, we're not simply talking about hiring an African-American coach for diversity's sake - though there's plenty of merit to that.

In this way, Selig may also have blown an opportunity.

With ODU entering Conference USA, it's difficult to anticipate the future of athletics on Hampton Boulevard. Or how Jones' impact will be felt once the visceral reaction to his hiring subsides.

But for now, if ODU basketball appears to be adrift, it's because Selig has a shaky hand on the tiller.

Bob Molinaro, 757-446-2373, bob.molinaro@pilotonline.com

Twitter @BobMolinaro