Nike Boys Basketball Camp at Norfolk State University

The MEAC Coach of the Year in 2019 and 2021, Jones has led NSU to a .743-win percentage in league play – fifth in the nation among coaches with at least 100 games coached – and made seven postseason appearances in nine years of postseason play.

In Jones’ tenure, the Spartans have won three MEAC regular season titles and two MEAC Tournament championships. Norfolk State has appeared in the last four MEAC Tournament championship games, and five of the last six.

Jones led Norfolk State to the MEAC Final in 2023, finishing the year with a 22-11 overall record. The Spartans went 9-5 in conference play, earning the No. 3 seed in the MEAC Tournament. NSU defeated No. 6 seed Coppin State 73-56 in the quarterfinal round and won an overtime thriller 72-65 over North Carolina Central the next day to earn an appearance in the championship game. The Spartans nearly pulled off a third victory in three days, falling 65-64 to Howard in the title bout.

During the 2022-23 season, Norfolk State shined on some of the brightest stages, winning multiple games at showcase events. The Spartans defeated Alabama A&M 89-83 at the ATL Has Something to Say HBCU Challenge (Atlanta, Ga.), before besting Hampton 78-66 and North Carolina A&T (70-66) in the Boost Mobile HBCU Challenge Hosted by Chris Paul (Las Vegas, Nev.). NSU beat Hampton a second time 83-71 on Feb. 4 for the Invesco QQQ Legacy Classic (Newark, N.J.), hosted by Michael B. Jordan.

CollegeInsider.com named Jones a finalist for the 2022-23 Ben Jobe National Coach of the Year and Skip Prosser Man of the Year awards. He was also selected to coach the 2^nd Annual “Classic for Columbus” Basketball All-Star Game & Extravaganza, an all-star event that two of his players participated in as well (Bryant and Bankston).

Jones earned MEAC Coach of the Year honors for the second time of his career in 2022 as he led the Spartans to a MEAC regular season title with a 12-2 conference record. The team finished 24-7 overall, its winningest season since the 2011-12 campaign, defeating Coppin State 72-57 in the MEAC Championship to clinch a berth in the NCAA Tournament. Jones was named MEAC Tournament Most Outstanding Coach for the second consecutive year.

In addition to his MEAC accolades, Jones was named the Ben Jobe HBCU Division I Coach of the Year and BOXTOROW Co-Coach of the Year, and was presented the College Insider Hugh Durham Award, presented annually to the top Division I mid-major coach in college basketball. He was also selected as the head coach of Team McLendon at the inaugural HBCU All-Star Game, leading the squad to a 79-75 victory.

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.

Norfolk State notched its second consecutive 20-win season in 2022-23, amassing a 22-11 overall record. Joe Bryant Jr. earned MEAC Player of the Year honors for the second straight campaign, earning First Team All-MEAC honors alongside teammate Kris Bankston. Both players were also selected to the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament (PIT) after the season’s conclusion.

NSU also averaged 75.8 points per game in 2022-23, the program’s most since 1999-2000. The Spartans led the conference in scoring average, field goal percentage, defensive field goal percentage, free throw percentage, rebounds per game, and assist/turnover ratio.

NSU repeated as MEAC champion in 2021-22, the first time in program history the Spartans won the league’s title and NCAA berth in consecutive years. Led by MEAC Player of the Year Bryant and a total of three All-MEAC selections (Bryant, second-teamer Bankston and third-teamer Jalen Hawkins), the Spartans posted the best-ever start to a season for a MEAC team in the league’s Division I era, at 9-1.

NSU logged a 12-2 MEAC mark in 2021-22, winning the outright MEAC regular-season title. The Spartans clinched the regular-season championship in dominant fashion, defeating North Carolina Central 75-46 at Echols Hall.

In 2020-21, 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 90-30 (75.0 percent) in the MEAC and 149-108 overall during Clemons’ time on the bench, including a .500 or better overall record in seven of his eight seasons. The Spartans have finished no worse than 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 five postseason appearances in Clemons’ seven 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, 2021, 2022, and 2023.

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.