ASHBURN, Va. -- The gale-force Chicago wind shook Daronte Jones' car and rattled his nerves. It did not blow the future Washington Commanders defensive coordinator off his path, but it made him question his life choices.
It was March 2002, nearly three weeks after Jones landed a job at Division III North Park University on the city's northwest side, and he was sleeping in a red 1988 Honda Prelude.
He endured a night that ended up steeling his resolve as winds reached 50 mph. At around 11 p.m., he called his aunt Lisa Simmons in Maryland.
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"She picked up thinking it was an emergency, which it really wasn't, but it could have been, mentally," Jones said. "The car was rocking side to side.
"I remember calling home and naturally the family was like, 'Just come home. What are we doing?' That was a moment where you really had to think about how much you're willing to sacrifice, and is it worth it?"
Jones didn't go home.
That was the first decision in a long list of sacrifices the first-time NFL defensive coordinator had to make early in his coaching career. He lived out of his car for two months in Chicago. Then, in 2010, while a grad assistant at UCLA, he slept in the cornerbacks' meeting room for most of his year with the Bruins. Two years after that, as a University of Hawaii assistant, he slept in his office for a year before moving into an alumnus' pool house.
Along his journey -- often with his pet python, Goldie Gambino, living in his book bag -- he also coached high school for two years and nearly left the profession twice -- attending law school at one point, and applying to the U.S. Capitol Police at another in hopes of becoming a Federal Air Marshal. However, like on that frigid night in the Windy City, he always resolved to stick it out.
"It was like, 'Is it ever going to end?'" Jones told ESPN. "I was like, 'Maybe it's not for me.'"
The big breaks finally came, which have led Jones, who is a native of Anne Arundel County in Maryland, to Washington, where he has been entrusted with improving a defense that was arguably the worst in the NFL last season. His background could be a good match for the task ahead.
A turbulent start to his career helped him develop a deep appreciation for future opportunities -- and for finally reaching this point in his career. It taught him patience; it taught him humility.