After being terminated from Shaw following the 2024 season, Adrian Jones will remain in the CIAA and become the next head coach of the Elizabeth City State football team.
Jones served as head coach of Shaw for nine seasons, leading the team to a 35-45 overall record, including three winning seasons.
In 2018, he helped Shaw snap a four-year drought without a winning season, leading the Bears to a 6-4 record. The team was led by linebacker Devon Hunt, who won that season’s CIAA Defensive Player of the Year award.
Before entering coaching, Jones was a standout defensive back at North Carolina Central in the mid-1990s. He was selected to three All-CIAA teams and was named a Division II All-American in 1996.
After a brief pro career in numerous Arena League teams, the All-CIAA defensive back returned to his alma mater in 2003 as part of Rod Broadway’s coaching staff.
He served as a linebackers and defensive backs coach for three seasons with the Eagles before taking on his first head coaching job at his former high school, Southern E&S.
In 2013, Jones helped lead Southern E&S to a North Carolina High School Athletic Association (NCHSAA) 3-AA state championship.
The following year, Jones returned to North Carolina Central to become the team’s running backs coach for a year before being hired as head coach at Shaw.