Maryland men’s basketball’s assistant coach marks his name in the history of DeMatha basketball. Literally.
DeMatha Catholic High School announced on August 13 that the basketball court in the Morgan and Kathy Wootten Gymnasium will be named the “Mike K. Jones Court” in honor of Mike Jones. Jones was the head boy’s basketball coach for 19 years, taking the reins from a Hall of Famer in coach Morgan Wootten.
“I’m proud to be a Jones and to have our family’s name on that floor, [it] means a lot,” Jones said.
Jones ended his DeMatha coaching career with an overall record of 511-119, nine Washington Catholic Athletic Conference regular season titles, eight WCAC Tournament championships, four Maryland Private School Tournament Championships and a 2006 national title.
“The administration at DeMatha was very much aware of the significant contributions that Mike had made through his 23 years here at DeMatha,” DeMatha President Father James Day said.“We had to acknowledge that.”
Friends, family, alumni, faculty, former teammates, coaches, assistant coaches and players all flooded to DeMatha to celebrate the unveiling of the court.
“I was blown away,” Jones said. “I knew there was going to be a lot of people there but to have so many different aspects of the coaching career was awesome.”
James Robinson, an assistant coach for Delaware men’s basketball and one of Jones’ former players, called the event a reunion.
“It was a cool thing to celebrate the wins in the 19 or 20 years of the kind of coach Jones era,” Tommy Paolucci, Jones’ first assistant coach said. “But those are records and numbers that are always going to stay—it was being around and just saying what’s up and saying hello to the people that maybe you hadn’t seen in a long time.”
Jones impacted many students and players while at DeMatha. An alumni of the school and basketball program himself, he gave as much to the school as it provided to him.
“Coach Jones did it not just on the basketball court for his players but for every student that came across him,” two-time NBA champion and former player of Jones, Quinn Cook, said. “[He] just helped them to become better men.”
Cook was one of five people chosen to speak on behalf of Jones at the ceremony. It was an easy decision for Cook.
“I could have went on for hours about coach and our bond and our stories,” Cook said with a laugh. “But I just tried to represent our love as players, our love as a student under him. I know he felt the love from everybody in attendance.”
Jones took to the podium to say a few words at the end of the ceremony, expressing his gratitude to have his family name on DeMatha’s court. He concluded his speech thanking his second family: His DeMatha family.
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