Aggie Basketball
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As he enters his fifth season as the North Carolina A&T men’s basketball coach, Jerry Eaves has turned a one-win program into a MEAC contender that many publications believe will be at or near the top of the standings when the season ends. There is even talk about the NCAA Tournament around Aggieland again thanks to Eaves’ hard work.
In 2006-2007, Eaves led the Aggies to a 15-win season, the school’s best total in 10 years. He also led the Aggies to a third-place finish, their best finish in 10 seasons.
Eaves has successfully recruited Division I and junior college transfers who are ready to play on the court and excel in the classroom while his recruited high school talent sits and learns. Once those younger players are ready, they are also ready to contribute.
When he arrived on N.C. A&T’s campus, he brought with him a wealth of experience after numerous stints on both the collegiate and professional levels as an assistant. He rebuilt a program that started with him taking over a team that returned just four players who averaged a combined 13.1 points per game from the previous season. The Aggies won just one game a year prior to Eaves taking the position.
In year No. 1, he took those players, along with some late additions, and won three games. In season two, he showed more improvement by winning five home games and breaking a 32-game road losing streak. The following season, Eaves earned six wins before 2006-2007 15-17 overall record and 10-8 conference mark that included an upset win over Southern Methodist University and former Associated Press Coach of the Year Matt Doherty.
Eaves came to Greensboro after one season serving on the staff of John Lucas for the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Before he came to Cleveland, Eaves spent three seasons in Charlotte, N.C., where he was an assistant for the Charlotte Hornets. He worked with Paul Silas, the organization's all-time leader in wins.
Both Eaves and Silas were on the New Jersey Nets staff during the 1994-95 season when they were assistants under then head coach Butch Beard. It was the first of two campaigns that Eaves would spend with the Nets before returning to his alma mater, the University of Louisville, as an assistant to Hall of Fame coach Denny Crum.
Eaves spent three seasons (1996-99) at Louisville, helping lead the Cardinals to a combined 57-40 record and two NCAA Tournament appearances. Prior to his stints with New Jersey and Louisville, he was an associate head coach at Howard University for four years under Beard (1990-94), supervising recruiting, scheduling travel and practices.
He helped the Bison win the school's only MEAC Championship in 1992 and a berth in the NCAA
Tournament. As an NBA professional, Eaves played in the league for four seasons. The Utah Jazz selected Eaves in the third round (55th overall pick) of the 1982 NBA Draft. Eaves appeared in 162 games in two complete seasons for Utah and also played for the Atlanta Hawks (1984-85) and Sacramento Kings (1985-86).
He averaged 6.7 points and 2.5 assists in 168 career NBA games. For the 1989-90 season, Eaves served as a scout for the Utah Jazz before he began pursuing his passion of coaching on the college and professional levels.
At Louisville, Eaves was the starting point guard on the 1980 NCAA championship team that defeated UCLA in the final game in Indianapolis. It was Eaves who made the decisive defensive stop on UCLA standout forward and former Denver Nuggets general manager Kiki Vandeweghe to help the Cardinals win the game. In four seasons with the Cardinals, Eaves averaged 9.7 points, on 50.5-percent shooting from the floor, 2.6 assists and 1.8 rebounds in 129 career games and was named All-Metro Conference for the 1980-81 season. Eaves ranked 30th on the school’s all-time scoring list with 1,250 points.
He was inducted into the University of Louisville Athletic Hall of Fame. Prior to Jerry Eaves’ arrival at the University of Louisville, he was a star at Ballard High School as a three-year starter.
He earned a selection as a McDonald's All-American following his senior season (1978). He led Ballard to a state championship during that same season.
A native of Louisville, Ky., Eaves earned a degree in business and sports management from the University of Louisville in 1986. Eaves and his wife Sheila have four children: Lee Anne, Ashley, Frankie and Anthony.