Vandebilt Catholic boys’ basketball coach Leon Veal is adding a veteran coach to his staff for the 2025-2026 season.
The Terriers will be adding Richard Jones as an assistant coach on the boys’ basketball team – a move that Veal said will be a difference maker for the program.
Jones was a head coach at Terrebonne and at Houma Christian and has enjoyed success, including taking the Warriors the playoffs this past season with a young team that battled both injuries and also a new district.
Jones mutually parted ways with Houma Christian at the end of the season and said he was initially unsure about coaching next season, but added that the chance at Vandebilt is one that he felt was too good to pass up.
Veal agreed and said it is a perfect fit.
“He gives us something we really needed,” Veal said. “He is a good coach – has head coaching experience and he’s going to help our program a lot, but also just help me a lot. He will see things I maybe wouldn’t see or have an eye for scouting or game planning and will bring new ideas to the table. We have been close for a long time. I couldn’t be excited about having him in our program.”
Both Jones and Veal said that they have been friends for several years and they think this will be a partnership that will work.
Vandebilt is one of the best boys’ basketball programs in our area – a program that has been deep in the playoffs the past several seasons, including last year when they made the Quarterfinals and lost a heartbreaker to Hannan, the eventual State Champion.
Veal said Jones will have the experience, but also the acumen to help the team get over the top.
Jones said he has admired the Terriers’ program in recent years and wants to work with the players, adding that they are hard-working, diligent kids who want to be elite basketball players. That hunger, he said, excites him.
“It’s so exciting when you can come to work every day and have that buy-in,” Jones said. “You can see just from following them that they have that there.”
Like the other teams in our area, Vandebilt is in the middle of their busy June – playing games around the area and beyond.
The team has lost some key pieces, but still returns a lot of key talent on a group that hopes to make another run.