NEW PALTZ, N.Y. -- Coming off one of the most successful seasons in Norfolk State men's basketball history, head coach Robert Jones is being honored by his alma mater SUNY New Paltz as a member of the Hawks Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2022. 

A 2002 graduate of SUNY New Paltz, Jones was a four-year player for the men's basketball team, playing in 100 of 102 games for the Hawks at power forward. He led the team in rebounding all four years and was the top scorer in his junior and senior year. He scored 1,321 points for ninth on the all-time scoring list; his 875 rebounds rank him second all-time and his 140 blocks are first all-time for the Hawks. He was a three-time All-SUNYAC selection, twice as honorable mention and once as first team.

Jones continued his basketball career after graduation, as an assistant coach at Div. III Bard College and at SUNY New Paltz before becoming head coach of Long Island Catholic high school power, St, Mary's High School. He led the Gaels to a 32-15 record in NYS' highly competitive Class AA. In 2007 he joined the coaching staff at Norfolk State University as an assistant; was promoted to associate head coach, then interim head coach before becoming the permanent head coach in 2014. Since that time, he has led the Spartans to a 166-126 record, including a 104-32 in the MEAC. He has won the MEAC regular season title twice and the MEAC tournament twice, earning NCAA DI tournament berths in 2021 and 2022. His 2019 team earned the Spartan's first postseason invitation to the NIT, where they knocked off SEC member Alabama in Tuscaloosa.

This year Jones was named the Hugh Durham Award winner as the top Division I mid-major head coach by College Insider, Inc. leading the Spartans to a 24-7 record including both the MEAC regular season and tournament titles. The basketball website also named Jones a finalist for the Skip Prosser Man of the Year Award, Jim Phelan Award and Ben Jobe Award. This is the second Coach of the Year award for Jones as BOXTOROW named him the HBCU Division I Coach of the Year. Additionally, Jones led Team John McLendon to a win in the Inaugural HBCU All-Star Game.