ODU basketball coach Jeff Jones diagnosed with prostate cancer

Old Dominion University head men’s basketball coach Jeff Jones has been diagnosed with prostate cancer and will undergo surgery to treat it, ODU announced today.

“A check-up in late 2014 revealed an elevated PSA [Prostate-Specific Antigen] level,“ Jones said. “I underwent follow-up tests during the season, and in April a biopsy confirmed the existence of prostate cancer.”

Jones’s surgery is scheduled for June 1 at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, MD.

“We feel fortunate to have caught this when we did,” said Jones. “I hope to return to my coaching duties soon, and I look forward to a busy summer of camps and recruiting.”

Jones, 54, has led the Monarchs to 45 wins in his two seasons at ODU, including a 27-8 mark in 2015, and an NIT semifinal berth. He won his 400th collegiate game this past season and now holds a 402-313 career head coaching record, which includes 13 seasons at American University and eight at the University of Virginia. Over the past 23 years, Jones has led his teams to 11 post-season tournament appearances.

The American Cancer Society recommends that men “have a chance to make an informed decision with their health care provider about whether to be screened for prostate cancer” and offers the following guidelines for when that discussion should take place:

• Age 50 for men who are at average risk of prostate cancer and are expected to live at least 10 more years.
• Age 45 for men at high risk of developing prostate cancer. This includes African Americans and men who have a first-degree relative (father, brother, or son) diagnosed with prostate cancer at an early age (younger than age 65).
  
• Age 40 for men at even higher risk (those with more than one first-degree relative who had prostate cancer at an early age).

Source: Cancer.org.

More information about prostate cancer screening can be found on the website of the James Buchanan Brady Urological Institute at Johns Hopkins at http://urology.jhu.edu/prostate/.