New Cedarville coach convinces entire roster to stay after departure of Estepp

“You might read the headlines,” Jones said, “and see that when a new coach takes over a program that before he’s even announced at the press conference half the roster has decided to transfer. I’m unbelievably grateful to these young men because not one single player left.”

Jones said he knows the timing of the coaching change played a part in that. Pat Estepp, the head coach for the last 16 seasons, stepped down July 22 to take an assistant coaching job at Furman University. That didn’t leave the players with much time to make a move before classes started this month.

Still, recruiting never stops, and players could have found new homes. That they stayed, Jones said, speaks to the leadership on the roster, the fact that they talked during the week they didn’t have a coach and rallied around each other, saying, “We’re going to stick this out. We’re going to trust God that His plan is right, that the new head coach will be a man that will support us and care for us.’”

Jones thanked Estepp for encouraging the players to give the new coach a chance. Jones knew he had to work fast to convince the players to stay, so he talked to them in a team-wide Zoom meeting the day after he accepted the job. That wasn’t easy to organize because four players were in other countries. Athletic director Chris Cross got them all on the line.

After that call, Jones talked to each of the players individually on the phone. His pitch was this, “You’re at Cedarville for a reason.”

Jones said, “These guys have a desire to be here for elements that are greater than basketball. Basketball is the piece that brought them here. But they’ve learned and they’ve grown to love this place.”

Jones, 46, worked the last two seasons on Ritchie McKay’s staff at Liberty University but spent the majority of his career, 17 seasons, at the University of Richmond on Chris Mooney’s staff. He was the director of basketball operations from 2005-08, an assistant coach from 2008-15 and then an associate head coach from 2015-22.

Jones is familiar with the Dayton area from numerous trips to UD Arena with Richmond over the years. In his last season with the Spiders, Richmond beat Dayton in the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament semifinals and then Davidson in the championship game to earn a NCAA tournament berth in 2022.

Cedarville played exhibition games twice at Dayton in Estepp’s tenure, and Jones’ familiarity with the Dayton coaching staff and the UD Arena experience could lead to more matchups down the line.

“Playing in that arena,” Jones said, “we used to always talk about it, especially with the younger guys, saying it’s going to be the best basketball environment that maybe you’ve ever been in your life. I said, ‘They won’t heckle you. They won’t call you names.’ We always felt like they’re definitely cheering for the Flyers and they’re not cheering for us. It’s just the vast number of people, and the energy in that building is terrific. What a great fan base.”

Jones takes over a program that finished 23-12 last season. That was Cedarville’s best winning percentage (.657) since the 2012-13 season (22-9, .710).

Jones is just the seventh head coach in the last 70 years at Cedarville. The program’s winningest coach, Don Callan, attended the press conference Tuesday. He had a record of 578-423 from 1960-95. Jeff Reep, Ray Slagle and Estepp followed Callan.

In all his stops, Jones has always worked as an assistant. This is his first head coaching gig.

“If you had asked me when I first got into coaching, I’d have been like, ‘Yeah, I want to be a head coach someday,’” Jones said. “Then what that looked like, it just kind of shaped and developed over the years. And then it became, what’s the type of school that I want to be at? What’s the type of program that I want to have a chance to run? Over probably the last 10 years, that’s when I felt, ‘I want to be at a Christian university, a distinctly Christian university — not just by name, but by action on a daily basis. That’s the type of program that I want to run.’ We get an opportunity to do this through the game of basketball, but the mission of glorifying God and all that we do, that’s my passion. That’s my heart.”