Aggie Basketball
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MEN'S BASKETBALL COACHING STAFF
Jerry Eaves · Scott Bollwage · Walter Booth · Harlan Frye· Bryant Paylor
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It has been a interesting journey for North Carolina A&T head coach Jerry Eaves as he enters his seventh season. Jerry Eaves took over a one-win program with just four returning players and two scholarship players and turned into a team consistently contends among the top teams in the MEAC. Over the last three seasons, Eaves’ teams have finished above .500 in the conference. The Aggies program has not had three straight winning season seasons in the MEAC since they had three seasons above .500 since the early 90’s.
The Aggies constantly improved under Eaves. He won 15 games over the first three years of his tenure at N.C. A&T. In the last three seasons, the Aggies have won 46 games, become one of the most prolific 3-point shooting teams in the nation and have finished top four in the conference each of the last three seasons.
Eaves’ 15-win total in 2006-2007 was the program’s best season in 10 years. He repeated that feat in 2007-08. A year ago, the Aggies reached the 16-win plateau. It was the most wins the Aggies have had since the 1993-94 team that won 16 games. Eaves has also established the Aggies return to respectability by having a player lead the league in scoring in Sean Booker, another player become one of the best 3-point shooters in the nation in Steven Rush and he has recorded two of the biggest wins in program history when you considered the opponents’ RPI.
Eaves’ hard work in turning around the Aggies program earned him the 2008-09 National Association of Basketball Coaches District 15 Coach of the Year. Eaves led the Aggies to a 16-16 mark overall and the Aggies 9-7 record earned them third place in the MEAC after being picked eighth in the preseason. Eaves also led the Aggies to their longest winning streak in 18 seasons when the Aggies went 8-0 in the month of February.
Eaves not only excels in bringing great talent to N.C. A&T, but he also has made it a habit to recruit outstanding student-athletes. Recent recruits such as Thomas Coleman, Steven Rush, Marc Hill and Austin Ewing have excelled in the classroom as well as the court.
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 four players who had a combined average of 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 the 2006-2007 15-17 campaign that included the upset win over Southern Methodist University and former Associated Press Coach of the Year Matt Doherty.
Two years ago, Eaves defeated DePaul University on his way to a 15-16 overall mark and a 9-7 record in the conference. DePaul was the highest ranked RPI team the Aggies have ever defeated.
Eaves came to Greensboro after one season serving on John Lucas’ Cleveland Cavaliers staff. Before he came to Cleveland, Eaves spent three seasons in Charlotte, N.C., where he was an assistant for the then Charlotte Hornets. He worked under 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 working for Beard 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 collegiate 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. He 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.