Big South Basketball: Top 10 head coaches of the century (2000-20)

By Joey Loose | Jul 20, 2020

CHARLOTTE, NC - NOVEMBER 15: Head coach Greg Marshall of the Winthrop Eagles cheers on his team during a game against the University of North Carolina Tar Heels November 15, 2006 at the Charlotte Bobcats Arena in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo By Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /

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SOUTH BEND, IN – NOVEMBER 14: Head coach Mike Jones of the Radford Highlanders (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images) /

6. Mike Jones – Radford (2011-2020)

When Jones got his shot with Radford, it came after a long and successful career as an assistant all over the place. He had worked under coaches like Dennis Felton and John Beilein, though his greatest and most recent success came on Shaka Smart’s staff at VCU. Before departing for Radford, he helped lead the Rams to that surprise Final Four run and was certainly ready to take over a program of his own.

Jones got to work with the Highlanders and led the team to a group of third-place finishes and CBI bids in his early years with the school. Things have gotten much better in his last three seasons, leading the Highlanders to the NCAA Tournament in 2018, followed by a pair of regular-season Big South titles. He’s 66-35 in that timespan and has Radford looking like the best program in the conference moving forward.

There’s no telling what Radford will do as a program in the future, but Jones has certainly built them into impressive shape in recent years. Change didn’t come overnight, but now the Highlanders look like a program set to compete for Big South titles for years to come. Jones has been solid; we’ll see if he keeps building in the Big South or if another job comes calling someday soon.