Coaching Staff

Robert Jones
Head Coach

Head coach Robert Jones sets out on his ninth season leading the Norfolk State men’s basketball program in 2021-22 and his 15th year overall with the Spartans. He led the program to its second-ever MEAC title in 2021 and an NCAA Tournament First Four win over Appalachian State.

The 2019 MEAC Coach of the Year, Jones signed a five-year contract extension following the NCAA Tournament appearance, keeping him at the helm of the program through 2027-28. He has led NSU to a .742 win percentage in MEAC play – fifth in the nation among coaches with at least 100 games coached – and made six postseason appearances in seven years of postseason play.

After serving as an assistant coach on NSU’s first NCAA Tournament squad, Jones led the 2020-21 team to a share of the MEAC Northern Division title (8-4) in addition to the MEAC Championship. It marked the first time NSU won both the regular season and tournament titles in the same year. The Spartans went on to defeat Appalachian State, the only current MEAC school to win two games in the NCAA Tournament. The program was named the HBCU Large School National Champion by the Black College Sports Network (BCSN).

Jones was named the MEAC Tournament Most Outstanding Coach and the HBCU Co-Coach of the Year by HBCU All-Stars LLC/CBS Sports. He was a finalist for three CollegeInsider awards: Ben Jobe (top minority coach), Hugh Durham (top mid-major coach) and Skip Prosser (success on the court and integrity off the court). NSU went 17-8 overall in 2020-21, his seventh .500 or better overall record in eight years as head coach.

Jones led the Spartans to their second-ever regular season title in 2018-19 at 14-2, the second-most wins in the league in program history. NSU finished 22-14 overall for the most wins in Jones’ tenure and the second-most in the program’s Division I history. It also marked his second 20-win season along with the 2014-15 campaign. The Spartans capped it off by defeating No. 1 seed Alabama in the NIT first round, regarded as perhaps the biggest upset by point spread in NIT history.

In addition to earning the MEAC Coach of the Year Award, Jones was named the NABC District 15 Coach of the Year and the Skip Prosser Award winner. He later received the Norfolk Sports Club’s President’s Award for 2019, given in special acknowledgment and recognition of outstanding achievement.

He followed that campaign up with another strong season in 2019-20. NSU finished tied for second in the league standings at 12-4. They did the same in 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2016-17, each year posting the same 12-4 record with a second-place finish. The Spartans have been no worse than tied for fourth in the league during his tenure, that coming in 2017-18 with an 11-5 MEAC record and 13 teams in the league. They finished 11-5 and tied for third in Jones’ first year in 2013-14 as well.

Jones’ overall head coaching mark now stands at 142-119, including 92-32 in MEAC play.

NSU made a MEAC Tournament finals appearance in both 2017 and ‘19. NSU also took part in the CollegeInsider.com tournament for four seasons from 2014-17. The program has made eight postseason berths altogether, including six under Jones and one each in 2012 (NCAA) and 2013 (NIT) during his last two years as an assistant coach.

Only once in Jones’ 14 seasons as either an assistant or head coach has NSU finished outside the top 4 in the regular season standings. In fact, Norfolk State is currently fifth in the nation in D-I basketball for the longest streak of .500-or-better conference records, now at 23 years and counting heading into the 2021-22 campaign. Every other team in the MEAC has had at least one losing conference record since 2017-18. Since 2011-12, NSU is also ninth in the nation in league winning percentage (77.6) and tied for 10th for most consecutive top 4 conference finishes (10).

Jones has been named a finalist for the Ben Jobe Award a total of five times, including previously from 2015-17 and again in 2019. He was a finalist in 2019 for the Hugh Durham Award and in 2014 for the Joe B. Hall Award, presented by CollegeInsider to the most outstanding first-year D-I head coach.

He has coached numerous outstanding players during his time at NSU, including 19 All-MEAC honorees as head coach. NSU had a first-team player nine times out of 10 years from 2008-17, and at least one all-conference honoree every year except one from 2004 until now. In 2018-19, the Spartans had a program record five players earn All-MEAC honors.

In Jones’ first year in 2013-14, meanwhile, senior Pendarvis Williams was named AP All-America honorable mention and also earned a spot on the Lou Henson All-America Team for mid-major players. He later competed in the Reese’s College All-Star Game at the 2014 Final Four and with the Houston Rockets Summer League team in Las Vegas before going on to a professional career in the NBA G League and Europe.

Williams is also one of numerous players Jones has coached at Norfolk State who have gone on to play professionally, including eight-year NBA veteran Kyle O’Quinn. Just during his head coaching tenure, a total of 20 players have finished their NSU careers and competed professionally.

Under Jones, NSU has set D-I program records for 3-pointers, 3-point field goal attempts, 3-point field goal percentage and largest scoring margin (three times each); fewest turnovers per game, rebounds, rebounds per game, points, field goal attempts and best turnover margin (all twice); and field goals, assists, free throws made and free throw percentage (all once). In 2018-19, NSU averaged 73.7 points per game, the most in program history in 19 years.

Jones was named the interim head coach of the NSU basketball team on April 15, 2013, following the departure of former head coach Anthony Evans. A former assistant coach with the Spartans, Jones’ interim title was removed in February of 2014 during that first year leading the program.

During the 2012-13 season, Jones served as the associate head coach. It marked his sixth straight year as an assistant coach with the program, all under Evans. It was the last two years of that tenure, though, that the Spartans really began to flourish.

After capturing the MEAC tournament title in 2012 and upsetting No. 2 seed Missouri in the NCAA Tournament, the Spartans captured the conference’s regular season title in 2013 with a 16-0 record and earned the league’s automatic bid to the NIT. It marked just the fourth time ever a MEAC school ran the table during the regular season, a remarkable accomplishment considering NSU lost four of its five starters from that 2012 championship team.

The Spartans won their first regular-season title since finishing in a tie for first in the CIAA Northern Division in 1994-95. They were also one of three schools nationally in 2012-13 to go undefeated in conference play along with Gonzaga and Memphis. Heading into the MEAC tournament, NSU’s 15-game win streak stood as the second-longest in the nation at the time.

NSU went 21-12 overall in 2012-13, the second 20-win season in two years after its 26-10 campaign during the 2011-12 campaign. In fact, the Spartans trail just VCU, Virginia and Old Dominion for the most wins (189) the last 10 years among the 14 D-I schools in the state of Virginia.

During his six-year tenure as an assistant coach, two of Jones’ primary responsibilities included developing the perimeter players and serving as the team’s recruiting coordinator. His prowess on the recruiting trail was key to NSU making a turnaround beginning in 2011-12, and the story of his biggest catch was played out in the national media during NSU’s 86-84 upset of Missouri that season.

The star of the game, senior center O’Quinn, was one of Jones’ first recruits at NSU. Making the story headline-worthy was the fact O’Quinn, an unheralded high school player who only really played his senior year, received one D-I offer in high school – that from the Spartan basketball program.

O’Quinn became the centerpiece of the 2011-12 team that won its first-ever MEAC title and finished with the most wins (26) in 17 years. His stock continued to rise following a very successful senior year, including his 26-point, 14-rebound effort against the Tigers, as well as through his MVP performance at the Portsmouth Invitational. The Orlando Magic later selected O’Quinn with the 49th overall pick in the 2012 NBA Draft, NSU’s first draft pick since 1988.

O’Quinn made his regular season debut with the Magic on Nov. 2, 2012 against Denver, becoming the first NSU player to appear in a regular season NBA game since David Pope during the 1985-86 campaign. That same year back at NSU, Pendarvis Williams followed in O’Quinn’s footsteps by being named the 2013 MEAC Player of the Year one season after O’Quinn captured the award.

After arriving at NSU following the promotion of Evans to the head coaching position in 2007, Jones became an essential part in the Spartans’ continued rise during Evans’ six-year head coaching stint.

In his first year as assistant coach in 2007-08, Jones helped the Spartans secure their second winning record as a D-I program with a 16-15 overall record. NSU also notched what at the time was its best-ever MEAC record at 11-5, tying for second place in the regular-season standings. A year later in 2009, the program made its first MEAC Tournament title game appearance. Three years after that in 2012, the Spartans finished second in the regular season standings at 13-3 and won the MEAC Championship.

Jones came to NSU after spending two seasons in 2005-07 as the head varsity boys basketball coach at St. Mary's High School in Manhasset, N.Y. His teams compiled a 32-15 record competing in New York's highest classification (Class AA). Under Jones' direction, St. Mary's advanced to two consecutive Nassau-Suffolk Catholic League championship games. As head coach, Jones sent three of his players to D-I institutions. One of those was former Spartan forward Marcos Tamares, a key member of the 2012 MEAC Championship team.

Jones was the head freshman team coach and an assistant varsity coach at St. Mary's in 2004-05. That year, the varsity team went 25-1 and finished the season ranked 10th nationally by USA Today. Jones helped tutor four more future D-I players, including University of North Carolina graduate and 2009 Cleveland Cavaliers draftee Danny Green and former West Virginia University star and 2010 Los Angeles Lakers draftee Devin Ebanks.

Between stints as a high school and AAU coach, 13 of Jones’ players earned D-I scholarships, including former Spartans Tamares, Aleek Pauline and Quasim Pugh.

Prior to joining the high school ranks, Jones served for three seasons as an assistant coach at a pair of D-III schools. Jones was an assistant coach at Bard College in 2001-02 prior to serving a two-year stint at his alma mater, the State University of New York at New Paltz. There, Jones helped the Hawks reach the SUNYAC championship game in 2003.

Jones was a four-year letterwinner from 1997-2001 at New Paltz. He played under Evans, who was an assistant at New Paltz from 1997-99. Jones was a three-time All-SUNYAC selection and an honorable mention D-III All-American in 2000. Jones ranks No. 9 all-time in school history in scoring with 1,321 points, first in blocks with 140 and second in rebounds with 875.

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). In 2020, Jones gave his support to ABIS, the Advancement of Blacks in Sports.

Jamal Brown
Associate Head Coach

Jamal Brown enters his sixth year as an assistant coach with the Norfolk State men’s basketball program in 2021-22, with NSU coming off a MEAC Championship and NCAA Tournament win. He has spent more than 15 years in coaching positions throughout the MEAC and more than 20 years overall in the coaching field.

The Spartans captured just their second-ever MEAC title in 2021, advancing to the NCAA Tournament where they defeated Appalachian State in the First Four. It marked the program’s second tournament win ever, the only current school in the league that can make that claim.

NSU also won a share of the MEAC Northern Division regular season title in 2020-21 at 8-4, the first Spartan team to win both a regular season and tournament title in the same year. The Spartans were named the HBCU Large School National Champion by the Black College Sports Network (BCSN).

NSU captured a regular season title in 2018-19 at 14-2, just the second ever for the program since joining the league in 1997. The Spartans earned the league’s automatic bid to the NIT, upsetting No. 1 seed Alabama in the first round. They also went 22-14 overall, the second-most wins for the program in its Division I era.

A total of five players earned All-MEAC honors in 2019, including guards Nic Thomas and Derrik Jamerson Jr. (second team), guard Steven Whitley and forward Jordan Butler (third team) and guard C.J. Kelly (all-rookie team). For the second straight year, the program set the overall school record for 3-pointers and the D-I record for 3-point field goal percentage, the latter a mark the program broke yet again in 2020-21. NSU also scored its most points per game (73.7) in 19 years during the 2018-19 campaign.

NSU followed that up by finishing in a tie for second in the MEAC in 2019-20 at 12-4. The Spartans secured their third non-losing season in four seasons with Brown on the bench when COVID-19 shut down the season before NSU’s first game in the MEAC Tournament. Nevertheless, Jermaine Bishop (first team), Whitley (third team) and Tyrese Jenkins (all-rookie team) garnered All-MEAC honors that year. Devante Carter (second team) and Joe Bryant Jr. (third team) captured all-conference honors in 2020-21.

NSU made its fourth-ever MEAC Championship title game appearance in 2019 and the second with Brown on the bench along with his first season in 2017. That 2016-17 campaign, the Spartans finished second in the MEAC regular season standings at 12-4. They also made their sixth straight postseason appearance after competing in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament.

Norfolk State posted a 10-game win streak during the middle of conference play, the second-longest win streak in the program’s D-I era. Guard Jonathan Wade earned first-team All-MEAC honors, and guard Zaynah Robinson earned a spot on the second team.

The Spartans followed that up by going 11-5 and tying for fourth place in the MEAC regular season standings in 2017-18 in Brown’s second season, finishing one game out of first place. NSU owns a 57-19 record (75.0 percent) in the MEAC since Brown joined the coaching staff, 86-73 overall.

In addition to his on-court responsibilities with the Spartans, Brown serves as the program’s recruiting coordinator, handles scheduling and team travel, and co-coordinates the team’s summer camps.

Prior to joining NSU, he spent a season as an assistant coach at MEAC rival North Carolina A&T in 2015-16 under head coaches Cy Alexander and interim coach Jay Joyner. The Aggies rallied late in the year to finish tied for sixth in the 13-team MEAC. Brown mentored the team’s post players, including third-team All-MEAC honoree Bruce Beckford.

Before joining N.C. A&T, Brown spent one year as an assistant coach at Winston-Salem State in 2013-14. The Rams finished 18-11 that year, including 11-5 in the CIAA, and advanced to the conference championship game.

The 2021-22 season will mark his 19th year coaching in the league and his 23rd season overall as a coach. His familiarity with the MEAC also includes a five-year stint as the associate head coach under Frankie Allen at UMES from 2008-13.

Brown was directly responsible for recruiting and academics during his time with the Hawks. The team achieved a 3.0 GPA and an APR score of 1,000 under his guidance. He also recruited three All-MEAC players and three All-Rookie Team honorees. While at UMES, he was selected to attend the ACE Program for Minority Coaches in 2013.

His coaching career began at his alma mater South Carolina State, where he served as an assistant coach under Alexander for six seasons from 1997-03. While there, the Bulldogs had one of the most successful runs in MEAC history, playing in five tournament championship games in six seasons and claiming conference titles in 1998, 2000 and ’03.

Brown was the associate head coach under Alexander at Tennessee State from 2003-06. While there, he served as the top assistant coach and recruiting coordinator and was instrumental in the program signing several future all-conference players. The Tigers also improved their win total by seven between Brown’s first and second years there.

He left Tennessee State to assume the head coach position at South Carolina State for one season in 2006-07. The Bulldogs finished tied for third in the MEAC standings that year, and the team’s GPA improved from 1.9 in the year before he arrived to 2.5 under Brown.

He graduated from South Carolina State University in 1997 with a degree in business marketing. While there, he was a member of the Bulldogs’ MEAC Championship team in 1996 that also shared the regular season title at 14-2.

A native of North Charleston, South Carolina, Brown and his wife Jennifer have three children, Gilbert Jamal Brown II (19), Grant Carter Brown (5) and Irena St. John Brown (3). He is an active member of the Black Coaches and Administrators (BCA) and Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.

C.J. Clemons
Assistant Coach

Carlton “C.J.” Clemons Jr. embarks on his seventh season as an assistant coach on the Norfolk State men’s basketball staff in 2021-22. The Spartans are coming off a MEAC Championship and NCAA Tournament win in 2021.

NSU won its second-ever MEAC title, advancing to the 2021 NCAA Tournament where the Spartans beat Appalachian State in the First Four. It marked the program’s second tournament win ever, the only current school in the league that can make that claim.

In addition to winning the tournament title, NSU also won a share of the MEAC Northern Division regular season title at 8-4, in the process becoming the first Spartan team to win both a regular season and tournament title in the same year. The Spartans were named the HBCU Large School National Champion by the Black College Sports Network (BCSN) at the end of the year.

The program has gone 69-23 (75.0 percent) in the MEAC and 103-90 overall during Clemons’ time on the bench, including a .500 or better overall record in five of his six seasons. The Spartans have finished no worse than 11-5 and tied for fourth in the league standings during that time.

They captured their second-ever MEAC regular season championship after finishing 14-2 in the league in 2018-19. They went 22-14 overall for their second-most wins since moving to Division I. The program capped off Clemons’ fourth year as an assistant by knocking off No. 1 seed Alabama in the NIT first round.

The following season, the Spartans tied for second in the MEAC standings at 12-4. The 2019-20 campaign was cut short before NSU’s first game in the MEAC Tournament due to COVID-19.

Norfolk State has made four postseason appearances in Clemons’ five years with the program that postseason has been played. It finished 12-4 and in second place in the MEAC regular season standings in each of his first two years in 2015-16 and 2016-17. The Spartans advanced to the MEAC Championship title game in 2017 and then again in 2019.

NSU finished 17-17 overall each of Clemons’ first two years, running its streak of consecutive seasons at .500 or better to six. The Spartans competed in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament in both 2016 and ‘17. The 2017-18 team went 11-5 in the league, finishing one game out of first place.

The 2016-17 squad ran off a 10-game win streak during conference play, the second-longest streak in the program’s Division I history. A pair of players earned all-conference honors, including Jonathan Wade (first team) and Zaynah Robinson (second team). Jeff Short (first team) and Alex Long (all-rookie team) garnered conference awards during Clemons’ first season in 2015-16.

NSU had its most-ever All-MEAC players in 2018-19 with five: Nic Thomas and Derrik Jamerson Jr. (second team), Steven Whitley and Jordan Butler (third team) and C.J. Kelly (all-rookie team). Jermaine Bishop (first team), Whitley (third team) and Tyrese Jenkins (all-rookie team) gave NSU three all-conference honorees in 2019-20, and Devante Carter (second team) and Joe Bryant Jr. (third team) gave NSU two more in 2020-21.

NSU set the school record for 3-pointers in his first season and then again in 2017-18 and 2018-19. They have set the program’s D-I record for 3-point field goal percentage three times, and in 2018-19 the Spartans averaged the most points per game (73.7) in 19 years.

In addition to his coaching responsibilities, Clemons’ other duties include serving as the liaison for the athletics compliance department, running the program’s summer camps, fundraising, and serving as the liaison for local recruiting.

A local native and Norfolk State graduate, Clemons joined NSU after spending two seasons as the head coach at Bryant & Stratton during its first two years as a program. He led the Bobcats, a Division II member of the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), to a two-year record of 38-16 from 2013-15.

Bryant & Stratton advanced to the NJCAA Region 10 semifinals in 2015 on the way to finishing No. 13 in the nation in the D-II NJCAA rankings. Clemons earned the Region 10 Coach of the Year award, and the Bobcats had three players earn all-conference honors. The Bobcats scored slightly more than 78 points per game in 2014-15.

Before joining Bryant & Stratton, Clemons spent five seasons as the junior varsity head coach and assistant varsity coach at Booker T. Washington HS in Norfolk from 2008-13.

Prior to his start with NSU, he coached with the Boo Williams 17 and under AAU team from 2009-15, including the final three years as the head coach. He led the squad to a sixth-place finish at the 2013 AAU Division I National Championship.

Clemons also coached with the S.M.A.R.T. Athletes Basketball Camp, run by former Spartan Kyle O’Quinn, from 2012-15.

Clemons graduated from NSU in the spring of 2005 with a bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary studies. He attended Salem High School in Virginia Beach.

Leonard Fairley
Assistant Coach

Leonard Fairley will begin his fourth year as an assistant coach in 2021-22 with the Norfolk State men’s basketball team. He is no stranger to the program, having first served as a student manager in 2011-12 and in various other roles the next several years. NSU has won two regular season titles and the 2021 MEAC title since Fairley joined the staff.

The 2020-21 team won a share of the MEAC Northern Division title at 8-4 before going on to capture the MEAC Championship, just the second ever for the program. NSU defeated Appalachian State in the NCAA Tournament First Four, in the process becoming the only current member of the MEAC to win a second NCAA Tournament game.

The Spartans also became the first NSU team to win both the MEAC regular season and tournament titles in the same year. They were later named the HBCU Large School National Champion by the Black College Sports Network (BCSN).

An NSU grad, Fairley held the title of interim assistant coach during his first year in 2018-19. The Spartans captured the MEAC regular season title that season at 14-2, their second ever since joining the league in 1997. He has been involved with the program during all five of its MEAC titles, including a postseason championship in 2011-12 and a regular season title in 2012-13.

The Spartans went 22-14 overall in his first season as an assistant coach, the second most wins in their Division I era. Win No. 22 came against Alabama in the NIT first round, when the Spartans knocked off the No. 1 seed Crimson Tide after earning the MEAC’s automatic bid to the tournament.

In Fairley’s second year in 2019-20, NSU finished in a tie for second in the MEAC at 12-4. The season was shut down prior to NSU’s first game in the MEAC Tournament due to COVID-19. The Spartans are now 55-37 overall and 34-10 in the MEAC during his first three years with the program.

A total of five players earned All-MEAC status in 2018-19 in Nic Thomas and Derrik Jamerson Jr. (second team), Steven Whitley and Jordan Butler (third team) and C.J. Kelly (all-rookie team). Jermaine Bishop (first team), Whitley (third team) and Tyrese Jenkins (all-rookie team) gave the program three more All-MEAC honors in 2019-20. The Spartans then followed that up with two more in 2020-21 in Devante Carter (second team) and Joe Bryant Jr. (third team).

Fairley served as a student manager at NSU for three seasons from 2011-2014, assisting coaches with practices, video recording, film exchange, and travel and equipment. He was part of a Spartan program that won the MEAC tournament title in 2012 and the MEAC regular season championship in 2013, advancing to the NCAA Tournament and NIT those respective years.

For four seasons from 2014-18, Fairley continued to volunteer with the program. He oversaw other student managers and video and film exchange while continuing to assist with practice, travel and equipment on a weekly basis. He also worked NSU’s summer camps and served as a bench assistant during games, both home and away, charting various plays and stats for the coaching staff.

Fairley received his bachelor’s degree in journalism from Norfolk State in December of 2017.

Steven Whitley
Director of Men's Basketball Operations