Custom Search NORFOLK, Va. – Norfolk State University Director of Athletics Marty L. Miller has announced that men’s basketball coach Robert Jones has agreed to a contract extension that will keep him at the helm of the program through the 2022-23 season.
NSU Photo
Jones has one year remaining on his current contract, and will receive an additional three years in his new deal.
“Coach Jones has been instrumental in the men’s program achieving success both on and off the court,” Miller said. “In addition to the NIT berth last season, he has led the team to the MEAC tournament championship game two of the last three years.
“The men’s basketball program also achieved a perfect 1,000 score (2017-18) in the latest APR report, which reflects the academic success of the men’s basketball student-athletes as well as the overall academic accomplishments of the department. They played a significant role in helping the athletics department achieve an overall grade point average of 3.05, the highest academic average for student-athletes in the school’s history.”
Jones has posted a 109-96 overall record, including a 72-24 mark in MEAC play, in his first six seasons leading the Spartans. NSU won the MEAC regular-season title with a 14-2 league ledger this past season, just the second of its kind in program history. Jones was named the MEAC Coach of the Year and the NABC District 15 Coach of the Year and also won CollegeInsider’s Skip Prosser Award, which is presented annually to a Division I coach who not only achieves success on the court but also displays moral integrity off of it.
The year culminated in the program’s second-ever NIT berth. The Spartans pulled off one of the biggest upsets in NIT history when, as the No. 8 seed, they knocked off No. 1 seed Alabama 80-79 on the road. The NIT appearance was the fifth postseason appearance in Jones’ six years as head coach, which also includes four CollegeInsider Tournament (CIT) berths from 2014-17.