By Jerry Ratcliffe
Anyone who has asked me over the years who my favorite coach to work with has been, I’ve quickly answered Jeff Jones, because he “gets it.” He has always had a keen understanding of what my job as a sports journalist involved and was always incredibly accommodating.
He was on the first Virginia team that I covered, back in the Ralph Sampson days, then became a graduate assistant coach, assistant coach and eventually head coach of the Cavaliers before moving on to coach American University and Old Dominion.
While I always tried to keep up with him from afar, we reunited this season when I asked him if he would be interested in doing a weekly college basketball podcast with me. We’ve had a blast doing so, interviewing former Virginia players, coaches and even coaches’ wives in Lucia Odom, wife of Coach Ryan Odom. On occasion we’ll do a straight up show, highlighting JJ’s great insight as a coach with 40 years of hoops under his belt.
Meanwhile, Jeff’s wife, Dani, posted a beautiful, heartfelt story this week about his health struggles and surprised her husband with news about him being recognized by the American Cancer Society as the national Volunteer Leadership Award for his fight against cancer.
With permission, here is Dani’s piece about our favorite coach:
By Danielle Decker Jones
My husband, Jeff, and his friend, Ryan, are made of the same stuff: They grew up watching their dads do the same job that they would go on to do, in the same way — without flash or self-promotion, but by putting their heads down, quietly, and doing the work.
For more than 40 years, Jeff and Ryan have talked to each other; to their dads, Bob and Dave; and to each other’s dads about winning the right way.
Why it matters: Ryan Odom has low-key become one of the biggest success stories in men’s college basketball. He enters this week’s ACC Tournament as the winningest first-year coach in UVA history, and the #2 seed behind Duke.
Meanwhile, Jeff Jones — whose record as UVA’s winningest first-year men’s basketball coach is the one Ryan broke — is about to get one of the biggest wins of his life.
I had to cancel a surprise party last month because Jeff was in the hospital, so this is a surprise column. More on that soon. First, the backstory:
Jeff has been at war with prostate cancer for more than a decade.
The latest battle, these past few weeks — complications from treatment — included 3 ER visits and an unscheduled surgery.
Some people don’t like “war” phrasing — it’s not a fair fight, people don’t lose to cancer, etc.
But I see what he endures, the daily ravages, and what he still manages to accomplish. And I know that he is a warrior.
Zoom out: It’s peak hoops season. The man’s been on a team his whole life, and these days, his teammates are his closest friends.
Normally, he would’ve been dashing from Chartway Arena to the John Paul Jones Arena to the Lenovo Center.
But there’s no March Sadness in this house. Jeff just plows forward during health setbacks and does what he can, as quietly as ever.
There he was in his hospital bed, watching games on his iPad, calling athletic directors and coaches from the ER — his voice hoarsening with congratulations and commiserations.
Behind the scenes: Jeff is a big man, with the loping gait of a point guard. Seeing him supine on a cot in triage always reminds me of when Aslan’s mane is shorn in Narnia.
I kept from getting sad this time because of the surprise he has in store.
It also helps me that he doesn’t complain when his health fells him. Somehow, he just appreciates what he has and waits it out.
As the late, great sportswriter John Feinstein (author of “A March to Madness”) wrote: “That’s the thing about JJ — he never lets you see him sweat.”
Flashback: Just over two years ago, a heart attack made Jeff retire from coaching. At first, I wondered how he’d fill his time. At 63, he could still shoot the ball. But he had few hobbies outside work, and the typing skills of a toddler.
I needn’t have worried; cancer’s saving grace is forcing us to value time.
Jeff’s “Hamilton” tattoo is a daily reminder: “How lucky we are to be alive right now.”
The guy is using his time wisely. He’s chairing the NIT Selection Committee, mentoring his former colleagues at Old Dominion University, and co-hosting a basketball podcast. The other day, I heard him crushing an interview with Lucia Odom. I told him he sounded like Mike Tirico with a Kentucky drawl.
That’s a lot. But what Jeff loves most of all, besides being a granddad, is supporting the American Cancer Society. Jeff is a longtime member of ACS’s Coaches vs. Cancer board; our friends and family have contributed more than $100,000 in years past.
In 2024, after retiring, he had a new concept: a panel featuring his retired coaching friends. He called it “Legends.”
He began planning, staying behind the scenes. In September, the gala in Norfolk, Virginia, became the most successful rookie Coaches vs. Cancer fundraising event in ACS history.
The party we just had to cancel was supposed to kick off planning for the second “Legends” gala.
OK, here’s the surprise:
Jeff, it wasn’t really just a kickoff party. Your friends from the American Cancer Society wanted to tell you something, in person, in front of your loved ones. They’re going to honor you for the work you’ve done by naming you the winner of this year’s national Volunteer Leadership Award.
In nominating you, they wrote that you’ve advanced their mission with “conviction, humility, and heart,” and that your “ability to inspire others has created lasting impact in the fight against cancer.” How ’bout them apples?
The bottom line: When people tell Jeff’s story, they’ll talk about the games he won — and the lives he helped save. Those are the seeds he is planting; that’s his legacy.
How lucky we all are to have time, today, to do the things that we want to be remembered for. It just takes heart, humility, putting your head down, and doing the work.
That’s the stuff legends are made of.
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