One of the top players in the State University of New York at New Paltz men’s basketball program’s history, Robert Jones (’02) was recently elevated to Interim Head Men’s Basketball Coach at Norfolk State University. Just a few hours after the resignation of former head coach Anthony Evans, a former New Paltz assistant coach, Jones was appointed the interim title at the suggestion of Evans and Spartans student-athletes.
Evans served as an assistant to former New Paltz head coach Joe Kremer in the late 1990s, coaching Jones for his freshman and sophomore seasons. Their relationship remained strong and eventually led to Jones’ hiring as an assistant coach at Norfolk State when Evans took the head coaching job.
Many will remember Norfolk State’s enormous upset of Missouri in the 2012 NCAA Tournament. Norfolk State came in as a 15 seed in the West corner of the bracket, while Missouri was ranked second. The Spartans pulled off the biggest victory in the school’s history, defeating the Tigers, 86-84 to advance to the round of 32. Jones knew all along that his team was capable of winning that game against all odds.
“Privately, we thought we’d win the whole time,” he said. “Once we saw we got Missouri, we thought ‘we’re going to win this game.’ Best matchup we could possibly have.”
Winning is not so unfamiliar to Jones. He was a part of the only New Paltz men’s basketball team to ever win a postseason tournament. After the 1998-99 regular season, the Hawks participated in the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Tournament. With two wins, the Hawks advanced to the final round, where they defeated Alfred University, 96-81, to take home their first-ever ECAC title.
In Jones’ sophomore year, the 1998-99 Hawks finished the season 18-11, which still stands as a program best for wins. This was a solid turnaround after a 12-13 finish the year prior, and a stellar improvement over the 7-17 season in 1996-97.
“The group of guys we had banded together,” said Jones. “[We said] ‘we’re going to win this thing, we’re going to find a way to come together.’”
Jones made his first appearance on an All-State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) team that year, earning an honorable mention. He was an all-conference honoree three times in his career, including First-Team recognition and a Division III All-American honorable mention after the 1999-00 season, his best season in the Blue and Orange. That year, he led the team in blocks per game (1.7) and with career highs in points per game (16.4) and rebounds per game (11.1).
Jones completed his four years as a Hawk with 1,321 points, which currently stands as the ninth most in program history. His 875 rebounds rank him second all-time at New Paltz, and he tops the leaderboard with 143 blocked shots.
After graduation, Jones was hired as an assistant coach at Bard College for the 2001-02 season prior to returning to New Paltz to be an assistant coach for Doug Pasquarella for two years. Between working at New Paltz and Norfolk State, Jones polished his coaching skills at the high school and AAU levels, where he tutored 13 future Division I student-athletes.
Jones served as an assistant coach to Evans from his hiring in 2007 until the end of the 2012-13 season. In 2013, Jones takes the helm under the interim tag of a team coming off back-to-back 20-win seasons, a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Tournament title in 2011-12 and a MEAC regular season title in 2012-13.
Jones earned his bachelor's degree in business management from New Paltz in 2002. In 2011, He was also selected to attend the NCAA’s Achieving Coaching Excellence (ACE) program, a professional development workshop for college coaches administered by the NCAA Student-Athlete Affairs department in partnership with the Black Coaches and Administrators (BCA).*
*Information courtesy of Norfolk State Athletics
