CJ Jones, Alysiah Bond and Tori Jankoska have been hired as assistant coaches by Virginia women’s basketball coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton, and Chris Toland will join her staff as assistant strength and conditioning coach.
All four were on Agugua-Hamilton’s staff at Missouri State.
“I’m blessed to be able to start this new journey with my coaching staff,” Agugua-Hamilton said. “They are all hard-working, dedicated, loyal, committed coaches who know the x’s and o’s of the game and are positive role models and mentors for our student-athletes. To top it off, they are family to me. I’m honored I get to help them further their coaching careers at one of the best academic and athletic institutions in the country. Wahoo Nation will love them and the enthusiasm and character they bring to our program and our community!”
Jones joined the MSU staff for the 2020-21 season after spending six seasons at two American Athletic Conference schools, the last four at Temple where he played a key role in recruiting, scheduling, camps and player development and helped the Owls to a No. 7 seed in the 2017 NCAA Tournament. Jones assisted East Carolina to 35 wins in two seasons and a WNIT second-round appearance in 2015 and was an assistant men’s coach at his alma mater, Francis Marion University, for five seasons from 2009-14.
While at the D2 school, Jones was pivotal in developing recruiting strategies, individual workouts, academic support and summer camps. The Patriots posted a 73-63 record during his tenure. Jones also served as a team assistant for three years with the Detroit Pistons and one year with the Miami Heat at the NBA Summer League between 2009 and 2013. His duties included facilitating on-court drills and providing support to the head coaches and players during games.
Bond joined the staff at Missouri State for the 2020-21 season after spending the 2019-20 season at Texas Tech where she assisted the Red Raiders to their best Big 12 finish in seven seasons and mentored All-American, and WNBA draft pick Brittany Brewer. Bond was on staff at Michigan State from 2015-19, where she worked alongside Coach Mox. The Spartans made three NCAA Tournaments and one WNIT during her tenure, and she helped sign a top 10 recruiting class while in East Lansing.
Before Michigan State, Bond was an assistant at Wisconsin for four seasons and served as the director of operations at Arizona from 2008-11. She also has assistant coaching stops at Central Florida, Murray State and Tennessee State. From 1998-2001, Bond was director of operations at Tennessee under hall of fame head coach Pat Summitt. She was the director of special programs for USA Basketball from 1997-98.
In addition to her coaching and administrative stops, Bond worked as a sports anchor, reporter and producer at NBC affiliates in both Knoxville, Tenn., and Columbus, Ohio, in the early 2000s, and was the color analyst on Tennessee and Ohio State women’s basketball broadcasts at those respective stops.
The all-time leading scorer at Michigan State, Jankoska reunited with Coach Mox on the staff at Missouri State in June 2019. Jankoska, who was the ninth overall pick of the Chicago Sky in the 2017 WNBA draft and spent the 2017-18 season playing professionally for the Polish club Basket Gdynia, joined the college coaching ranks in 2018-19 as the director of recruiting operations and player personnel at Maryland, where she helped the Terrapins to a 29-5 overall record and Big Ten regular-season title.
A four-time All-Big Ten selection at Michigan State, she finished her career as the Spartans’ all-time leader in points (2,212), 3-pointers (320) and free throws (478), while ranking second with 489 assists and 707 field goals. She averaged 16.9 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.7 assists in her college career, earning honorable mention All-America honors from the Associated Press and Women’s Basketball Coaches Association her senior season in East Lansing.
Toland was hired as an assistant strength and conditioning coach at Missouri State in June 2021, working with the men’s and women’s golf teams in addition to women’s basketball. He served three-plus years in a similar role at Delaware where he trained the Blue Hens’ men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s soccer, volleyball, golf and women’s tennis teams. He also assisted with the Delaware football, men’s lacrosse and track and field teams.
Prior to Delaware, Toland worked with a number of sports in his Olympic Sports Performance Strength and Conditioning internship at Temple. He has held several similar positions in the private sector as a strength and conditioning coach, fitness coordinator and personal trainer. He earned his bachelor’s in exercise science in kinesiology from Penn State in 2011, and master’s in sport and exercise physiology with a biomechanics and motor learning concentration from West Chester in 2017, and holds NCSA-CSCS, CPR/AED and USA Weightlifting – Level 1 Sport Performance Coach certifications.
“Strength and conditioning is a vital piece to becoming a championship program,” Agugua-Hamilton said. “Chris Toland understands that. His knowledge of the body and how to make it perform at the highest levels is outstanding. He prides himself if being able to make our student-athletes run faster, jump higher, change direction better, and peak at the right time. Maintenance and recovery is his specialty as well. He is a high energy, high character, genuine man who is also family to me!”
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