Donnie Jones hired as head coach at Stetson

Stetson made it official on Friday, announcing that Donnie Jones will be the Hatters’ new head basketball coach. Jones spent last season at Dayton, but was previously the head coach at both UCF and Marshall and worked as an assistant during Florida’s back-to-back NCAA titles (2006 & 2007).

“I began to follow Donnie Jones when he was an assistant coach at the University of Florida,” AD Jeff Altier said in a statement. “Donnie was an integral part of creating the highest standard of basketball success ever for a school in the south. I watched closely as Donnie led the programs at Marshal and UCF, elevating their recruiting to the highest level and engaging fans, ticket holders and the community as never before.”

The Stetson program has just one 20-win season (1974-75) since joining Division I in 1971 and has never been to the NCAA Tournament. Altier parted ways with head coach Corey Williams earlier this month in the midst of a stretch of 11 straight sub-.500 campaigns.

“I’m so excited and grateful to be a part of the Stetson Hatter family,” Jones said Friday. “I appreciate the opportunity to help build a culture and a style of play that will be exciting to play and fun to watch.”

credit to Kim Klement/USA TODAY Sports for the photo