UNC Greensboro decided to part ways with head coach Mike Jones after the 2026 college basketball season even though it did not give him enough NIL money to succeed. He was set up to fail.
In fact, the 60-year-old far exceeded expectations in juxtaposition to his financial backing.
It is nearly impossible to succeed in the modern era of college basketball if the big money boosters do not open their wallets. Jones still managed to put his team in position to compete for a conference championship in three of the last five years.
Who? Mike Jones!
Mike Jones was hired at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 2021 after a 10-year stint at Radford. He went 174-150 with the Highlanders, including five 20+ win seasons, two Big South regular season titles and one Big South Tournament championship. He was twice named as the Big South coach of the year in 2018 and 2020.
UNC Greensboro hired Jones to replace Wes Miller, who set high expectations for success before he left for the same job at Cincinnati. The Spartans won at least 25 games in three-straight seasons from 2016 to 2018 and twice made the NCAA Tournament as Big South Tournament champions.
Jones could not keep that momentum going but it’s not like he didn’t have success. UNCG won 20+ games in three-straight seasons from 2022 to 2024 and finished second in the Big South Conference all three years. It took a pretty steep drop off in 2025-26, at 15-19, which led to his ouster.
The university decided to part ways with Jones after five seasons. It began a national search for a permanent replacement at the beginning of March with help from the CSA Search & Consulting firm.
UNC Greensboro does not have a lot of NIL money for college basketball.
All things considered, Mike Jones did a pretty good job in Greensboro. A 93-69 overall record may not sparkle and he never made the NCAA Tournament but he was fighting an uphill battle.
The average NIL budget for a mid-major basketball program ranges anywhere from $100,000 to $500,000. The most elite mid-major programs might spend as much as $1 million. Most competitive programs average somewhere between $250,000 and $300,000. Teams typically prioritize their spending on two or three high-impact players or transfers with the rest of the roster splitting the rest.
Jones did not have anywhere close to that amount of money. He recently revealed the total NIL budget for college basketball at UNC Greensboro on the TeedOff Sports podcast. It is way less than you think.
The Spartans spent only $95,000 — total — during the 2024-25 season. Although the boosters did step up in 2025-26, it still was not enough money to be competitive compared to other mid-major programs.
UNC Greensboro decided to let Jones go after five years. Will the next coach get more support?