Old Dominion Head Men’s Basketball Coach Mike Jones announced on two more members – Matt Hamilton and James Robinson, III – to the 2024-25 coaching staff along with retaining Jamal Robinson as an assistant coach. Jones previously announced the hiring of Odell Hodge as special assistant to the head coach earlier this week.
 
“I’m excited about the staff that we were able to assemble. A staff that is very talented and is ready to embrace the tradition and promise of this great program. Each individual possesses a varied skill set that will allow us all to impact our young men in different ways. Collectively, we are honored to lead this program in to such a bright future,” said Jones.

Matt Hamilton
Director of Basketball Operations/Player Personnel

Hamilton joins the Old Dominion staff after a nine-year run at Hampton University. He saw the Pirates change conferences three times in a five-year span going from the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, to the Big South, to the Coastal Athletic Association.  Hamilton has served in a variety of roles with the Pirates from operations director, to assistant coach, to associate coach and recruiting coordinator.

He joined the Pirates in 2015 as the director of operations. After a year in that position, he was promoted to a full-time assistant coach. In 2022, he was elevated to associate head coach and continued to serve in his role as recruiting coordinator for the Pirates.

Hamilton will play a major role in the planning and execution of the day-to-day basketball operations, student-athlete relationships, player development, recruiting, arranging travel, scouting reports, and helping ensure the academic success of ODU’s student-athletes.

He began his career when he was just 16 years old, serving as an assistant coach at Marvin Ridge High School in his home town of Waxhaw, North Carolina. A student manager during his college days at Appalachian State, he also assisted with player development, film editing, scouting reports, practice setup and on-campus recruiting visits. Hamilton earned a bachelor’s degree in physical education from Appalachian State and a master’s degree in sports administration from Hampton in 2017.

Following graduation from App State, he served as an assistant coach and head JV coach at Lees-McRae. With the men’s team, he was responsible for player development, recruiting, scheduling, scouting, and academics. As head JV coach, he was in charge of in-game coaching and organizing and running practices. While Hamilton was at Lees-McRae, the school set a program record for wins in a season. He coached two All-Conference players during his tenure, including Jaquise Moore – who led all of Division II in steals with 3.3 per contest.

While at Hampton, the Pirates made four postseason tournaments. They won the MEAC regular season and tournament title in 2015-16, qualified for the CBI Tournament in 2016-17, won the MEAC regular season and made the NIT Tournament in 2017-18 and earned a CIT Tournament bid in 2018-19.

Jones on Hamilton
“Coach Hamilton brings a ton of experience to our program, including the last two seasons as an Associate Head Coach. To be able to add someone of his caliber to our staff will impact is all. He has had every duty you can think of as a coach. His impact will be seen in every aspect of our team.”

James Robinson
Assistant Coach

James Robinson moves to Old Dominion after a two-year stint on the staff at Delaware.

Robinson joined the Blue Hens after a six-year professional playing career in Europe. In his two years with Delaware, the Blue Hens went 36-30 and advanced to the second round of the Coastal Athletic Association Tournament each year.

A standout at the University of Pittsburgh from 2012-2016, Robinson started 135 of his 136 career games as the point guard for the Panthers and still holds the ACC record for career assist to turnover ratio at 3.64 to one.  A native of Prince George’s County, Maryland, Robinson tallied 1,115 career points and 604 assists, while garnering All-Academic honors in both the ACC and Big East.

Prior to his college career at Pitt, Robinson was a dominant player at DeMatha Catholic High School in Maryland where he played for Jones. He was a two-time USA Basketball international gold medalist, having played for the United States U18 team in both 2012 and 2013.

At the time of his graduation, Robinson was the all-time winningest player in DeMatha history with 120 career victories as he guided the Stags to three WCAC titles, three city championships, and two Alhambra Tournament titles. He was named a First Team All-MET selection by the Washington Post as a senior after posting 11.2 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 6.4 assists per game. Robinson aided the squad to the no. 1 state ranking and no. 11 in the nation according to USA Today.

Jones on Robinson
“James is one of the best point guards in the last decade of college basketball, He has always excelled because of his basketball IQ. His ability as a player development coach will immediately connect him with our roster. Our guards in particular will benefit from Coach Robinson’s experience and natural ability to connect with them. A coaching superstar in the making and we are lucky to have him.”